It's a Loverly Spring, Charlie Brown! [Open]

[Brandr]

Aianna watched, fascinated as Simi pressed her forehead against the wounds, healing them slowly. It was an amazing sight for the feathered dragon, she never grew tired of seeing healers do their work. She almost wished she'd been blessed with healing powers but alas, that was not her fate and path in life. She wouldn't have minded though, healing was a beautiful form of art.

She smiled warmly at the little hippogryph when she was done. "He looks much better now." she said in a reassuring tone. Her words were confirmed when the other dragon swatted the air with his talons, apparently having a vicious dream. Aianna stiffened, flaring out her crests and redirected her gaze warily to the male dragon.

She focused most of her senses on the male, barely noticing the conversation taking place. She only nodded a short greeting at Naira, one amber eye flickering down before returning to watch Attor. She was a little bit concerned by the others dreams and flailing, not for her own sake but for the creatures with her. Dragons could be unpredictable, after all. Especially when hurt. And she still had no idea what breed the other even was.

Some of the conversation below caught her fluffy ears and she gave a moment to listen to Simi's words, a little bit curious despite the danger. She appeared to be talking of some people, and Aianna followed her gaze with a puzzled frown, finally taking a closer look at the center of the crater. "What... is that?" she almost whispered, looking in horror at the bodies hanging from the tree. A gruesome sight. She was so horrified that she momentarily forgot about her worries concerning Attor. Who could've done such a thing? Where those poor beings still alive??

[Windra]

OoC

Attor is, for the moment, totally unconscious. I won't be playing with him until somebody prods at him, or until he wakes up.

--

Naira suddenly burst into a fit of sneezes. Somebody must be talking about me. Heh. Too bad she didn't have bat ears, or Alex would be getting flung into a vat of acid. Permadeath, go!

Conern over Attor's flailing claws provoked concern in more people than just Aiaana. The yellow-jacketed beast looked like something from a bad horror movie. Full of horns, spines, and a lethal stinger at the tip of his tail ... there wasn't an inch of him that could be considered cuddly. In fact, hugging him would probably land you in the hospital.

it wasn't long before Simi and Aiaana turned their attention to the tree sitting dead center in these decrepit wastes. The four floating figured hadn't moved since the group's arrival. Strung up in empty space and listeless as they were made it look as if they'd been killed in mid-air and frozen in place. How long had they been like that? Were they in mortal danger? Nobody knew, and probably. It vexed Naira to no end, strung along by waves of concern.

"That's actually the reason we came here." She waved her hand to the ship, and Barbannis beyond it. The Tyrai knight was making his way to the tree for closer investigation. "Gaeva and Gaeven are the leader of Deep forest. I think the other two are siblings. They're in a kind of suspended animation. Whatever's got a hold on them is affecting the rest of Deep Forest. Reality's ripping into multiple pieces, causing a myriad of happenings: people losing their minds, unnatural weather, drastic changes in scenery ... you name it. We wanted to search for clues ... see if there was anything to find that might lead to answers ... "

Simi's recognition of the leader mare raised some hope. But when she seemed confounded by the entire situation, it lumped her into the same category as everybody else - without a clue. Naira sighed, glancing up. Her eyes once again fell upon the vortex of swirling white energy. They were all over the place ... and the curiousity was riveting. The nearest was only about fifty feet away. She unconsciously took a step forward, then another. Casually strolling towards it, she wondered what the consequences of poking around might be.

Not like it's going to kill me, she thought grimly, drawing ever near.

[forgerofsouls]

Of course they were still alive. The unicorns were only suspended in the air by...well...nothing. They just floated there as if gravity had no effect on them. Plus a certain world eater had placed a protective spell on them, though that has faded since, but the unicorns were still alive. But, the area had seen better days.

But of course that was not the purpose of this post, but simply, a way to start the post. There was two people that should have been with Naira but for some reason, the hole that had swallowed them and spat Naira out at Juno's bar had not spat those two out. This was partly to blame on their creator who is bad at time management, and partly to blame on school.

But, one thing for sure, what had happened to those two was that somewhere in the fabric of space and time, they were shunted away from their original destination to be delayed and rerouted to a different exit. So despite what Juno did to the hole, there was still another hole about to open above the ship...in fact...it opened...NOW!

A giant vortex not to different from the one that had opened up in other places and swallowed and spat out people at a bar suddenly opened open not to far above Juno's crashed ship. And out fell two figures. And they landed with a thud on the ship's deck. "Ow! What happened?!" Yelled one of the two figures, which was the taller of the two, with a black horn sticking out of her forehead. "That hurt! Where are we?" Asked the younger of the two, who sat up along with the other, looking around. "I am on a boat!" Exclaimed the younger one.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, elsewhere on the edge of the crater, another portal blinked for a few seconds, before out stepped someone else. His wings folded on his back, giant sword in hand, his armor glistening with bug blood. It was Klinge, somehow, he had found his way to a portal...or something...and by sheer dumb luck he had appeared at the crater.

"Back at the crater? Wish I did not get separated from those two. Was not smart, stupid giant ants swarmed me. Should have stuck closer to them. Ah! There they are!" He said as he spotted the two he was with. He saw another familiar figure with them, and another dragon that he did not know. And...there was a boat...That confused him...but not that much, he was almost used to the chaos that was happening all over. For now, he decided to move over to the others and find out what happened....in fact...something seemed off about Attor.

[Sky Lily]

"That's actually the reason we came here," she heard Naira say behind her. "Gaeva and Gaeven are the leader of Deep forest. I think the other two are siblings. They're in a kind of suspended animation. Whatever's got a hold on them is affecting the rest of Deep Forest. Reality's ripping into multiple pieces, causing a myriad of happenings: people losing their minds, unnatural weather, drastic changes in scenery ... you name it. We wanted to search for clues ... see if there was anything to find that might lead to answers ..."

"Y-yes, I... I've seen these drastic changes myself." Simi's voice was very small all of a sudden. She had never met the royal family for herself, but now that she had, she couldn't feel anything else but dread for the unknown. These were the mightiest unicorns here. The real keepers of the forest. And if any unicorn so grand in size and majesty could be rendered so helpless by whatever had taken hold of the forest, then what chance did the others stand at al--

.... No.... No, she couldn't think like that. She couldn't afford to. Not while there was still time, while she still had friends to be there for, and while people like Naira held steadfastly onto hope, even now.

The hippogryph heard commotion behind her, but hadn't taken the time to look back and realize that there were two newcomers to the scene, and that Klinge had returned from his absence. She had instead slowly approached the sleeping family of unicorns, making a wary and quiet circle around them. She saw no wounds, no injuries that she could possibly mend. They were all in one piece, if not ruffled.

"Deep Forest was acting so strange, even from this morning..." she murmured. "There was the earthquakes first, and then the explosions... and then the forest had started to tear at itself... and now it's forgetting itself. I don't know where to begin for clues but... maybe here... maybe it's the only place we can start. I just don't understand why Gaeva's family..."

At a loss, Simi could only look back at her companions, but her eyes widened when she noticed Naira approaching one of the white swirls. "N... Naira...!"

[Brandr]

Aianna kept her eyes on Attor but her ears on the conversation, quite curious really. Some strange things had been happening indeed, especially concerning the weather. The feathered dragon had never encountered such a fickle climate before, even the winds had been acting strange lately, confusing the big beast.

She focused on the beings hanging from the tree, feeling a strong sense of pity. Nobody deserved to get suspended like that, and since they were the leaders of Deep Forest (at least according to Naira) it probably meant the whole forest was in deep trouble too.

"That sounds reasonable enough, to investigate this place. But isn't it dangerous?" she mused loudly, casting a glance at the heat, the acid, the swirling lights... "This isn't exactly what I would call a safe place."

She watched, concerned as Naira walked closer to one of the lights. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

Then, a giant vortex opened up above the ship and Aianna's attention got redirected once again, her senses tingling with the winds coming from the vortex. It appeared to spit out two figures onto the ship. Aianna shook her head, confused by all the strange things going on. "I think I'll just stay here and watch this one..." she mumbled, flickering her gaze to the unconscious Attor. It was all a bit too much for her, really, so she stuck with the simple things. Watch the other dragon, in case he wakes up in a bad mood.

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

The vortex approached by Naira lazily continued to move in a circle, the white whisps it was made out of not showing any indication somebody was coming closer to it. But then as she was just a step or two away from actually being close enough to touch it, something suddenly did happen: a large black unicorn head seemingly popped out from the whiteness. And while that might possibly be the most remarkable part of the situation, the fact that this very black head was also very obviously see-through couldn't be ignored.

Blinking once the large unicorn then looked down at Naira, not really registering her presence right away, but just staring. Suddenly it clicked, and with a shout of surprise he jumped backwards, making his head disappear from Naira's view once more. Just as quickly he reappeared however, but this time by walking around the swirling vortex, as he had simply been standing on the other side and poked his head through mass of the energy. He didn't walk all the way around however, stopping as he looked from Naira to the large dragon a ways behind her, looking like she was a lot closer than she actually was due to her size. Then he spotted a smaller but still large dragon on the ground by the first one, and finally due to her coloring standing out from the other two he spotted the small form of Simi, a small dwarf in comparison.

All this was taken in in the space of a heartbeat, neither the tree nor the crashed ship catching his attention as they were out of his direct line of sight without turning his head around more, which he didn't. Bewilderment and confusion were the only readable clues displayed on his face for the ones who could read unicorn expressions. See-through Jahran then swallowed and in a soft, hesitant voice asked Naira, "Ah, do you by any chance know what happened here?" The "here" explained by a vague outward motion of his wings without unfolding them from his sides.

[Sky Lily]

She had been so concerned, so intent on Naira's risky move, that when a black unicorn's head appeared from the vortex Simi jumped backwards, crying out in surprise. Her first reaction was to flap her wings and gallop toward Naira to see if she could try and pull her away from this new danger, but she hadn't run for more than a few feet when the ghosticorn shouted and hid from view again. Simi could only stare, mouth agape as she tried to make sense of what had just happened.

The unicorn appeared again, this time as a whole, walking out from behind the white swirls to take in the newcomers with bewildered eyes. He was black all over, and very large. Simi had the feeling she'd seen him before... Where, again...?

W-wait. Wasn't he sleeping under that tree?!

The shiftergryph turned from the translucent unicorn to the black stallion hanging suspended under Gaeva's family tree, then back to the ghost, then to the tree again. They were indeed the same, so how...

... Oh, oh no. Was he dead?

She finally looked back to the see-through Jahran with wide eyes, feeling pale.

"Ah, do you by any chance know what happened here?" he asked Naira, spreading out his wings in a gesture of confusion.

Well, he hadn't asked Simi anything, so she was more than happy to gawk at Gaeva's nephew and ponder just how done-for everyone here was if the royal family was as dead as she'd feared... yet at the same time, some part of her wanted to feel elated. Even if Deep Forest's rulers were out cold, one of them was standing here, talking to them now! Whether he was dead or not probably shouldn't matter yet, but all the same, that part worried her a great deal.

[Windra]

Naira had her back turned to the others. She didn't see the black hole open up over Juno's ship, but the clamoring yells following the incident were heard miles away. Sounds like Sera and Silent ... A solitary glance over her shoulder confirmed the suspicion. That swirling abyss of black hovering above the Nightmare looked exactly like the one that formed in the floor of her inn. Naira hadn't eally been worried about them, certain they were going to get deposited somewhere in Deep Forest, but it was good to know that the wolf-woman and her child companion had finally caught up. And safely.

There was another voice! Bemused by the sudden coming of inhabitants, Naira was pleased and surprised to see a familiar figure stroll into the crater. She waved a hand, grinning. "Yo, Kling!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Aianna was regarding to her approaching the vortex twisting just above the ground.

Naira shook her head, turning attention away from the others. "Probably not, but it's not like we're solving this mess by just standing around, either ... " It was only a few feet away. Three more steps and it was within arm's reach. The Reaver tentatively stretched out an arm, attempting to touch the whispy form ...

To be quite honest, Naira hadn't been expecting any reaction at all. It would be just her kind of luck that nothing would happen. The vortex would remain vortex-y and siolence would answer the hundreds of questions flowing through everybody's mind. So when a big black unicorn head popped out of nowhere, Naira jumped back a good ten feet, spooked out of her skin.

It took a lot of control to keep that surprised yip from spilling out. Closer inspection proved Naira that she was looking at a familiar face ... which then spotted her and jerked its head back into the wormhole. The equine reappeared seconds later, looking about with greater resolve and less fear. It dawned on her that this same unicorn was currently floating lifeless around a tree in the Prison's center. Nemo had to doubletake at the tree at least three times before admitting this was true. After all, how could he be in two places at once? But this unicorn was vague ... faded. Naira had seen quite a few ghosts in her time. It was an unsettling notion. But were they staring at his ... spirit?

The unicorn swallowed. He was hesitant. "Ah, do you by any chance know what happened here?"

Naira responded with a blink. "I was about to ask you the same question ... " She wasn't sure what this fellow's name was. But Scarlet had met him before and clamored in her thoughts. How the V-ACT could recognize Gaeva's niece when she couldn't see in the first place was unknown. Maybe she knew the voice? "You're Jahran, right? Scarlet says hi." Actually she was squealing with joy, but Naira wasn't about to hop around like an idiot and make a fool of herself to convey the Juggernaut's every joy. The Reaver added the next sentence while jerking her thumb in the tree's direction. "Did you know your body is currently floating around in mid-air?"

[Sky Lily]

((OOC: Don't have much to contribute IC here at the moment, so I'll wait a bit))

[Luxon Cobrat]

Nei was... lost. No, that didn't even begin to describe her condition. The whole world was coming apart at the seams around her, and nothing was making sense.

Beyond her name, she wasn't even quite sure who she was right now. When the chaos had first broken out, more lives than she could begin to count had found their way into her memory, as if every being she could have ever been had become one at that very moment. Most had swiftly faded like so many dreams into the shadow when the dreamer awakes, but two remained, each insisting that they were the truth. According to one, her full name was Neithird, she was something called a "newman," she had been created by the Dark Core, and her existence had been dominated by her struggle with that same being for control over her own mind. The other named her Neizaia Leiel Xyraphion of the crystallian species, recalling a life as a citizen of the Galactic Technate and a fighter in the struggle against the invading Cobratian Empire.

There seemed to be a hint of truth to both stories. On the one hand, she was fairly certain she was in Deep Forest right now. It was hard to tell with the chaotically shifting reality and everything, but it... felt like Deep Forest. The place had a certain presence about it that her other life had never felt anywhere else. On the other hand, the presence of the Dark Core was gone from her mind, swallowed up by the mists between realms. It certainly wouldn't be missed.

Physically, the two versions had apparently been nigh-indistinguishable from one another in terms of appearance. The one difference had been hair color - Neithird's color had been purple, whereas Neizaia's had been a light shade of green. Natural in both cases. It seemed Neizaia's color was the one featured presently. On the other hand, Neithird's outfit had been reality's choice of clothing to retain; this was probably for the best, as the long-sleeved red leotard crafted in one of the Algol system's last and most advanced laboratories was itself easily in a class well beyond Neizaia's mass-produced crystallian infantry armor while still fitting her form so well as to not impair agility. And the plated boots and bracers of laconia, a rare and legendary metal even to the Algolians, were something beyond the crystallians' wildest imagination - practically indestructible in all likelihood.

On that note, Nei found herself struck by the strangeness of being so amazed now by something that had always been so completely familiar.

While she pondered that bit of cognitive dissonance, she also suddenly realized that her wanderings had brought her upon some sort of gathering. A ship that looked like it belonged on the water seemed to have crashed itself on the ground here, and a dragon nearby appeared to have done no better. The terrain, meanwhile, didn't seem inviting at all. Somewhere amidst all the bare rock and flowing red-orange liquid stood a tree, around which were suspended four winged unicorns and near which were gathering several more creatures.

Nei recognized one. Neithird knew her... as well as she knew anyone. Naira. One of the first friendly beings Neithird had ever encountered. And right now, it was high time Nei saw a friendly face. Forgetting herself, Nei broke into a run.

"Nay!" she called as she drew near.

Unfortunately, Neizaia's military-trained mind didn't account for the relatively less physically strenuous life Neithird had been leading. It turned out that was one more regard in which Neithird's version of history had prevailed, and so she was quite winded by the time she finished crossing the distance. Nei was facing the worst of both worlds right now, it seemed - her body felt weak to Neizaia, and her mind felt psionically weak to Neithird.

"Hey... Naira..." she panted, clutching her hand to a side cramp as she resolved to put this body through its paces as soon as she could. "Fancy... seeing you here."

She then registered Naira's comment to the disembodied unicorn, as well as the disembodied unicorn. In that order.

"Um... Astral projection, probably," she suggested without really thinking, as if such things were commonplace.

[Gaeva Winged Unicorn]

It wasn't lost on him that his appearance had at least slightly disturbed Naira, and he couldn't blame her for it as he was being all transparent looking and such, but when he asked her the question, he had actually been referring to their surroundings. Everything was a little fuzzy to Jahran, both figuratively as his memory was going all funny and unreliable on him, and literally as he had to keep blinking to focus his vision and keep things clear. With this kind of effort to keep his surroundings straight and clear, he wasn't paying as much attention to himself. And this was part of the reason why Naira's answer took him completely by surprise.

For starters, she knew his name, while he didn't know hers, Jahran wasn't expecting to hear his name being said out loud to him. Second, the mention of Scarlet triggered something in mind, and his head jerked back as a vague memory hit him, "Scarlet! She says hi? But, she was right here, wasn't she? I mean, that's the last thing I remember, she was here and everything was good, then suddenly, everything went black. Or dark. No no, black, it definitely went black."

He was rambling, but only because his mind was furiously trying to use the memory sparked by Scarlet's name to puzzle together what he'd forgotten. Hadn't they all been...

"Did you know your body is currently floating around in mid-air?"

...right over there?

As Naira pointed at the tree, Jahran simultaneously moved his head to look in the same direction. All he saw was a vague green blur, so even though his heartbeat was already speeding up with dread, he had to blink furiously a few times to clear his vision. It took him a moment to identify what he was looking at. A green tree he instantly recognized as the tree his half sister was bonded to. Colored figures surrounding the thick trunk in mid air. His ear slowly dropped as his black eyes widened. Very very familiar colors surrounded the tree, colored coats he knew better than anything else in the world: his family. And a black one. Him.

"Why am I there...?"

Slowly he turned his head to look back at Naira, and even without the telltale paleness other species would sport at a moment like this, he radiated clear shock. As if from very very away he heard the voice coming closer. "Naira" That must be the figure standing closest to him, the one who had spoken of Scarlet. Where was Scarlet anyway? He didn't see her hanging around the tree. Hopefully that was a good thing.

"Astral projection?" he slowly parroted the words spoken, as if not comprehending their meaning. "Astral projection." He repeated a second time, his shock slowly dissolving into a frown.

"Astral projection! Yes! Maybe that's it!" Jahran shouted, his ears popping back upright. Suddenly his face fell again, "Wait, I don't know how to project myself, astrally or otherwise." His head drooped a bit along with his ears, making him look very disappointed as he stared down at Neithird with big wide eyes that looked a lot more liquid all of a sudden.

[Windra]

Jahran was going on about something with the world going dark. And Scarlet had been there with him. Naira tried digging in her memory but there was nothing of purpose that she could drag out aside from the V-ACT 32's ramblings and giddy conversation-starters. She watched the black equine pivot his head about, bright eyes widening at the sight of the tree preserved in the center of the cataclysm, totally untouched.

At the same time, a very familiar voice came drifting over the airwaves. The Prison was all about catching up with each other, wasn't it? Naira glanced backwards to catch sight of somebody she really hadn't been expecting to see. It was all she could do to not run over, enthusiastic and brimming with joy. Everything in these past few years went by as a blur. When was the last time she saw Nei? At the moment, it didn't matter. As soon as the Newman caught up to their location, holding her side and out of breath, Naira disgarded any restraint and pulled her old friend into a hug.

"I can't tell you," Naira told Nei, releasing the Newman from her embrace, "how good it is to see you again. Are you alright?" When was the last time she'd seen Nei? Weren't they hunting for Wrathmont and ... No wait, that was Entropy. Speaking of ... The Reaver looked about, suddenly perplexed. "Where's Entropy ... ?" For some reason Naira was convinced the two were usually in the same area. But she couldn't really tell. Honestly, her memory was a little fuzzy.

A problem that was plaguing Jahran as well. The look of sheer terror decorating his expression told it all. He really didn't know what happened, did he? Jahran confirmed astral projection ... or at least, he thought he confirmed it. There was an air of uncertainty about the whole situation. Naira just wished somebody would pop up that knew all the answers. At least with the black unicorn's 'ghost' making an appearance, they were hopefully going in the right track ...

"Where are you right now? In the portal, I mean. Do you see anything on your side?" Naira wondered if it was a pointless question. "I don't really know what happened here except that it's messing up the whole forest. Things are going topsy-turvy all over the place. We were getting pelted by frogs raining down from the sky on the way here." Maybe the other portals dotting the landscape would lead to them encountering the other members of Gaeva's family. Who knew?

--

Attor wasn't sure how he felt. And he definitely wasn't liking it.

The world was spinning inside and out. The dreams of darkest darkness faded off into a multicolor dream where everything was happening backwards. Finally he found himself looking at a mirror image ... It was a thousand times more cute and cuddly than he was, and Attor felt compelled to scratch its eyes out. He did so vehemently, savoring the butchering. It caused great joy. Finally all signs of life left the other-half's body. This would have been greeted with compelling nostalgia and satisfaction, if not for the sudden jolt that ran through every fiber of his being.

In the real world, his whole body had seized up. Muscles tensed and limbs spasmed. Attor's neck jerked forward and his head followed. His lungs felt like they were on fire! Clawing at his throat, Attor was forced to open his mouth and gasp in fresh air he hadn't realized he wasn't taking in. The strange dream faded away. Blackened eyes opening, the red-rimmed iris flicked this way and that, alarmed at the changed scenery. The Yellow-Jacket Dragon rolled onto his belly, breathing in deep, ragged breaths in an attempt to relieve his palpitating heart.

This was all too strange.

"Where ... ?"

[Sky Lily]

"I don't really know what happened here except that it's messing up the whole forest. Things are going topsy-turvy all over the place. We were getting pelted by frogs raining down from the sky on the way here."

"I-It's true," Simi piped in finally after having stayed quiet during the topic of 'Astral Projections,' something of which she knew nothing about and preferred to not look stupid over in front of her companions... and one of Gaeva's family, no less! Goodness, she never would have been able to forgive herself.

... Gah, her mind had trailed off! The forest, talk about the forest, Simi! It's the least you could do for them!

"Th-the forest was acting strange the whole day... I mean, first there were earthquakes, and then the ground had started to tear at itself and.. uprooting its own trees, even. When I'd gotten here, the place was about to blow up, and the only reason none of us had died was because of this ... ship and..."

"And then everything just went... everywhere, and it was like everything you knew was just ripping itself apart!" By now she was accenting her words with a spread of her wings, the way a person may have thrown up their hands when caught up in the moment. "And then we were all split up, and Klinge and I landed at the river but we couldn't find anyone else, b--.... Klinge!!!" The shiftergryph cut her ramblings short upon seeing the dragonoid approach the group, and she turned to run to him. "Klinge, oh I'm so glad you're alright! I was afraid you were lost or, or wor-"

Simi was going to have to cut herself short again, for she suddenly heard a dragon hyperventilating behind her.

"Where..."

"Attor...? You're awake? Oh thank goodness you're okay!" she said, relieved, as she approached the yellow-jacket dragon. "I was so worried after you'd crashed..."

OOC: This oughta be fun.... xD

[Brandr]

Aianna had briefly glanced at where Naira had gone and then quickly decided to focus on the dragon in front of her instead. The black horsehead appearing from the white thing was just too confusing to her. She had no idea what was going on but it had to be some kind of magick.

So she did the only thing she could. Focused on the other dragon instead.

At first, the other dragon seemed to sleep quite peacefully, but then everything changed. The dragon appeared to have a nightmare of some sort, and suddenly his body started spasming, muscles tensing. Aianna tensed in response to that, stepping closer but hesitating a few meters from the other. It might not be a good idea to stand too close, just in case.

Attor started clawing at his throat, now clearly showing signs of awakening. Aianna sighed in relief, the other dragon appeared to be fine, although in a bit of pain. She watched as his eyes opened, trying to look as harmless as possible, a concerned look on her face. Simi had noticed that something was going on and was returning to the two dragons, Aianna quickly flicked her gaze to the little hippogryph before refocusing on the other dragon.

"Are you well?" she asked mildly.

[Windra]

"Attor ... ?" The statement of his name by a voice that wasn't familiar stirred his conscience. Beady red eyes squeezed shut. Attor blinked away the foggyness when he opened them again, slitted pupils turning towards the source of the voice that drifted just out of sight range Strange how the thing calling to him now reminded him of adream he'd been having. Perhaps he was still asleep? "You're awake? Oh thank goodness you're okay! I was so worried after you'd crashed ... "

Wait ... A crash? Attor didn't remember that part of the dream. There was something about a pool ... and then nothing. Sore spots which had been dormant all this time suddenly made themselves apparent by flaring up and throwing tantrums all at one. Attempting to stand made the hurt grow. All at one recollections of his tumble to the ground below faded into memory. How had he survived a fall from that height?

Fingers fidgeted anxiously for something that should have been tucked under his arm. The satchel! Where was - ahh ... there ... Around his neck ... Attor found this a little unsettling. He last remembered the Queen's egg being pressed against the midaxilliary artery beneath his armpit. But his hallucinations which shouldn't have been real caught him flitting to a cliff's edge, seizing the satchel and tying it about his neck like a small chain ...

Groaning, Attor came to realize he really hadn't been dreaming. It was all real. He was just in ... another state of mind at the time. Even now his head was throbbing from the forced detoc he was undergoing. Whatever was in the nectar had left his body a mess of antibodies trying to regenerate what nutrients had been lost. And the being calling his name was no stranger. It was Simi, the hipogryph. Attor huffed.

"A benevolent god would have ensured my death ... ," the dragon uttered while Simi was still out of earshot. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate what she had done to help him. Surely the electrified ants would have made a swift meal out of his comatose body if Simi didn't rise to the occasion the way she had. But let's face it. Simi was kind of ... a helpless runt. And a nuisance. But generally good to have around ...

"Are you well?"

Sod! Had he been drifting off? Attor was so caught off-guard by the close proximity of the new voice that he jumped swiftly backwards on all fours, nearly bulldozing Simi in the process. Thousands of tiny spines spurring from his neck and flowing down to his tail quivered under what Attor assumed was an imposing threat. Mentally berating himself for not noticing the presence sooner, the Yellow-Jacket Dragon puffed out his chest and spread his wings a little to make himself look bigger than he actually was. After all, the unknown presence was much larger than him, and slimmer, and ...

"M'lady?"

Female?

Given her visage, Attor would have expected the beast to be a brute. The obvious feminine twang in her voice surprised him. He settled down somewhat, retaining a bit of the buffed image in case she decided to attack. See, big bad meanie had one little secret - he was pretty chivalrious. When your entire life circles around protecting the Queen of the Hive, you kind of get used to 'laying your jacket in puddles for the woman to cross'.

Shaking away his baffllement with a rough toss of his skull, Attor grunted a response to her question. A little sore around the edges, but I suppose I could be worse for wear. Where are we?"

[Sky Lily]

"Eeeek!"

... was all Simi could manage to say as she swiftly backed away, and reminded herself to never take a dragon by surprise. Goodness, she could get herself crushed like that!

However, Attor's initial alarm quickly melted away into chivalry when he realized that the one who had startled him was Aianna. "M'lady?" After a moment's pause he quickly shook his head, grunting out an answer to her kind inquiry. "A little sore around the edges, but I suppose I could be worse for wear. Where are we?"

"W-we're at ... Well, I don't know where this is, but it's very important, Attor," Simi said somewhat timidly before gesturing at Gaeva's sleeping family with her beak. "The ruling family is here... Gaeva and her brother, and his foals... th-they won't wake up but one actually is, right now!" She raised her left foretalon and made a weak point at the winged unicorn specter(?) with them. "Well... He's... I'm not sure what's happening right now, but at least he can talk t... talk to us..."

Simi awkwardly turned away, half scratching, half holding her ear with her 'hand'. Had she been half as bold as those around her, she may have continued on to say that she thought his name might be Jahran, and might have even had the nerve to directly address the pegacorn with at least a tiny hello. Earlier, rambling on and on had been so easy, but now that all that pent-up stress had been released, things felt a good deal more awkward. And shy.

The shiftergryph turned back to the comatose family at the tree; now that she'd grown quiet again, she could take the time to try and be more observant of her surroundings. What exactly was going on here-- well, everywhere?

[Brandr]

Aianna kept her eyes on the other dragon, a little apprehensive when she awaited an answer. The dragon was of an unfamiliar species and she had learned the hard way not to automatically trust other dragons. Some species were a bit more... volatile than her own kind.

She jumped a bit as Attor moved, flaring out her wings before quickly folding them again, trying to look smaller than she was. She watched the spines that the other dragon suddenly had sprouted with interest and caution, her own spiked tail pressed towards the ground, twitching nervously. She hated violence and would rather back away if the other dragon was going to jump her. But there were others present too... Aianna glanced at Simi. Attor knew Simi so he'd never hurt her, right?

Then Attor spoke, and in a tone that almost seemed... questioning? Aianna blinked, fluttering her headcrests slightly, folding and unfolding them. The other dragon seemed to relax, just a bit, and Aianna felt a tiny bit safer. Maybe he wasn't a violent one?

Then, Attor finally spoke, and Aianna felt relieved at his words. Simi answered the question asked, and Aianna found herself listening attentively. Apparently there was some kind of story behind the floating bodies. It all sounded very complicated and very magicky to Aianna. She wasn't that good with magick.

"A sad tale." she sighed. "And it also sounds like quite a dangerous one, with fickle magick running amock." She then focused on Attor again, crouching a bit lower. "You'd probably feel a lot more sore if it wasn't for little Simi here." she said in a light tone. "She's quite a skilled healer."

[Barbannis]

The Tyrai had come to a stop still a good distance from where the tree lay centered. His distraction had easily gotten the best of him, not even turning to see if any had taken to the same idea, to scope out the nexus of the crater. For a while he remained stationary where he stood, sword now slung over his shoulder casually, hand wrapped easily snug around its hilt, examining the branches carefully, the figures oaround its shape. He knew them well.. but it felt different, standing there with no bad news to tell, no fainting army to make aware of, he wasn't even sure why he was there.

Barbannis flicked his fingers against the hilt just lightly, eyes finally peering back to those that had gathered once more, even taking notice of the ghostly visage of a unicorn he knew not the name of.

A soft glow emitted from his eyes as he turns back to the tree, taking another cautious few steps forward, his form once more depicting his new self, grey tail swiping back behind him, silver Tyrai armor strapped tight to his form.

The knight slowly continued his approach, stepping to the side, the soft crunch of his boots slipping over the cracks of ground and rock, the rubble of what ever made the crater making it somewhat difficult to move. He could feel the simmering heat from below, eyes catching the sight of a bubbling river spiraling through the space of land, but it didn't bother him. His eyes were set on the tree, holding bodies of the ones he knew well of the forest. Whether it be some form of slumber they were in, stasis, it deserved a closer look.

His free hand flicked lightly at the small scale that still hung from his Tyrai blade, the sword tightened to his side snug.

If need be, he would cut the last tree down in this crater, if that was the key to their freedom.

[Windra]

His eyes were pivoting between Simi and the lady dragon. After a while he found himself relaxing, muscles growing lax and wings drooping back down to his sides for a second time. It didn't take long for him to tkae in his surroundings. Rocky landscape ... darkened clouds ... and some orange-red-glowy material that bubbled and hissed. The terrain itself was not hot, but fumes of scolding air drifted from these brightly-colored pools. An acrid smell wafted throughout the air - strong and pungent, it reminded him, for some reason, of vomit with that biting tone to its odor ...

Acid?

Attor forced himself to sit. Deep Forest was a cataclysm of despair right now. Hadn't fire rained down from the sky earlier? He could still feel the sting of where one puches through his wing membrance. There was no safe place to go. Not now. Not with him still feeling queasy and weak from the poison damage his body sustained earlier. Not while he was in the company of those he didn't know, who's potentials remained a mystery to him. Right now ... Attor was not in a position to make trouble, and he knew it. An idle hand placated his cautiouness by fondling the satchel about his neck. Perhaps arriving at these woods had not been such a good idea. There was no sanctuary in which he could let the egg hatch. This gave rise to frustration, and it showed in his deepening breaths.

"W-we're at ... Well, I don't know where ts is, but it's very important, Attor." Simi retained her shy voice. She gestured to something just outside of his line of vision. The dragon swung his head to stare at the location, immediately perplexed by the tree and its floating oddities. Magic? Pah. He was not fond of magic. "The ruling family is here ... Gaeva and her brother, and his foals ... th-they won't wake up but one actually is, right now!" That made no sense. Even seeing the spectral apparition making conversation with some humanoid figures, it didn't make sense. "Well ... He's ... I'm not sure what's happening right now, but at least he can talk t ... talk to us ... "

"A sad tale," chimed in the other dragon. She crouched low, a sign Attor took for submission. Such lovely red scales ... "And it also sounds like a quite dangerous one, with fickle magick running amock. You'd probably feel a lot more sore if it wasn't for little Simi here. She's quite a skilled healer."

With a gruff shake of his head after he realized he'd been staring, the Yellow-Jacket Dragon snorted. He turned to Simi with an indignant huff. In a fouler mood, Attor might have been inclined to make a meal of the smaller one and chase the large one away. It would have been an immediate reaction had he been around males. But these were women. He remembered again the Queen in his care ... and the motherly affections given to him by his own kin. "Did you now? I would have healed on my own, certainly." He spoke with a growl edging his tone. Grumbling lowly, he lowered his head. "But ... I am grateful."

This whole endeavor was quite perplexing. Attor closed his eyes.

"I wonder if arriving to this land was not a mistake ... Too much confusing magic. And the lands seems ready to upheave itself."

[Sky Lily]

Not long after having trailed off into awkward silence, Simi's attention had gradually turned to the tree standing at the center, and had found herself slowly drawing closer out of a curiosity she was scarcely aware of. She hadn't quite taken notice before, on account of the slumbering unicorn family floating underneath its branches, but now the shiftergryph realized just how healthy the tree was; its warm green leaves rustled softly in the breeze, and its bark was still very much alive with rich dark browns and mossy patches. It was nothing like the other trees here, some of which were now growing sickly or already dead.

It was both beautiful and jarring.

"A sad tale," she heard Aianna say behind her with a sigh. "And it also sounds like a quite dangerous one, with fickle magick running amock. You'd probably feel a lot more sore if it wasn't for little Simi here..."

Hearing her name, the shiftergryph turned back with one talon tentatively raised.

"... She's quite a skilled healer."

The praise was both unexpected and warming; not really knowing what to say, Simi sprouted a small, thankful smile at Aianna.

"Did you now?"

Aaand that smile was wiped right off. Attor's indignant growl had even caused her to flinch, a reaction certainly not helped by the dragon's next few words. "I would have healed on my own, certainly."
[/size]
This surprising response was very different from the Attor that Simi had grown acquainted with, and his words stung all the worse because of it. Her gaze had wavered and she was now staring down at her talons, ears pressed tightly back. Had she done something wrong? In her confused distress she could only start with a hesitant "I-I..."

"But ... I am grateful."

The thanks hadn't gone unnoticed, but Simi was a little injured and a little confused, all the same. Her eyes darted once to Attor, once to the ground in front of her, then to him again before she silently continued on her way to the center's tree. She had nothing to say, really, not after that, even if there were plenty of questions spinning in her head.

Be... besides... Naira was glad that I could heal him, and so was Aianna, right...? So I can't have done anything wrong...

That would have to be reassurance enough for now... Besides, this was no time to be contemplating the dragon's change in attitude, so she just dismissed it as grogginess or the poison's effects or... or something.

"I wonder if arriving to this land was not a mistake ... Too much confusing magic. And the lands seem..."

Dragons' voices can be hard to fade with distance, but the hippogryph was dedicating her senses to the tree that sheltered Gaeva and her family. She took notice of the wolf who was already there, but made no attempt for conversation; she was bad at it anyway.

Instead she gazed up at the still-green branches rustling just above her. How could this tree still be so alive...?