Queries of the Mountains Thunder

[Blue]

Two years had gone by, two years that he’d taken to study and learn more about the forest and yet learn only precious few of it’s secrets, and none of those were anything worthy of his attention for more then a few moments after stumbling upon them. Not since the Three World War had anything remotely intriguing breezed through the mind of one of the more… dangerous creatures of the forest. Red armor covered his form, making an imposing figure of him, a helmet was attached at his waist, and a blade a darker hue of blood-red was connected to the other hip. Was he a livid killer? Slaughtering every creature he came upon? No, not quite. Subtlety was more his interests and for the moment, subtlety was something the forest was lacking.

Earthquakes rocked the Mountain side and one was dangerous enough that, in his quiet and remote area of contemplation, the Shade, also known as The Red General, or as Jarreth, or The Shadow, The Nameless, one of many names was forced to meld into the darkness of the Mountainside in order to avoid a large boulder that would have otherwise crushed and ended his long, long life and though he did not wish to admit it, it was more of a ‘fall’ into the shadows, the quake having been hard enough to send even this shadow off his feet. His glowing orbs for eyes looked up at the mountainside as the earthquake settled. His thoughts were automatically distracted by this seemingly “natural” phenomenon. Years he had spent in Deep Forest, and years he had learnt about of the past and none had mentioned this forest being on a fault line within the cracks of the earth’s crust. Standing next to the boulder as the last of the quake dissipated, the Shade studied it. It was not weakened, there were no points at which the boulder had simply snapped off of it’s support, whether it had been supported at all. No. No, it seemed to have rolled loose on it’s own.

A short trip through the shadows and up onto the higher ridge of the Boundary Mountains yielded more information, but not the information he was searching for. The boulder itself had crashed down the side of the mountain so fast he had little time to hear it, but he continued to walk up, following the trail of destruction, noting where other rocks and slabs of stone had broken free in the boulder’s passing. The further up he went, the more damage there was until he came to a level zone, an area where the boulder had originally come from. That the quake could shake loose such a large boulder when previously there had only been minor tremors earlier that same day. The Shade was inspecting the areas that the boulder had gouged out of the ground when the noise assaulted his ears.

He felt like he was standing on top of some kind of explosive, for surely something had blown under his feet. The noise, so close to what must be the source, was deafening for a normal creature, let alone one what had exceptionally sensitive hearing. With a curse the Shade sank to his knees, covering his ears with his hands, trying to blot out the noise. Thank all that was dark and unholy, the noise did not last for long.

This forest… he thought, as frost slowly covered the ground he was standing on, … has not seen, as of yet, the end of Dark Entities such as myself I do not believe. Though, what this noise was, for there was no explosion, I don’t believe that any in the forest will be able to explain. And if I were to place a fool’s bet, I would say that the point of origin for the noise accompanies this Mountainside. The Boundary Mountains have for too long remained… silent.

The Shade stepped away from the boulder’s exit point before settling himself down on a ledge. He brought his hands up and connected each of his finger tips against the opposite fingers, thinking and looking off into the distance.

<Master,> whispered a voice in his mind. <What is it that puzzles you? An earthquake is nothing normally that would interest you, nor is the sound of an explosion, so what is perturbing you?>

“Perhaps I am thinking too much into this Ctezar, but still. There are too many things in this forest that don’t just ‘happen’ for no reason.”

[Barbannis]

It was an odd sight indeed...

Claws clicked into stone, peeling away at the hard rock as he took grip of one of the closer rockfaces of the mountain side. His hands pressing in, tail swaying under him. The dark blue dragon growled under his breath with a heave, his other arm slipping up and taking grip, pulling himself further up one of the steeper sides of the mountain face. His wings were firm and tight against his back, unused, leather had been strapped and tightly wrapped around the higher segments, preventing him from opening them out, The dragon huffed softly as he crawled up onto one of the cliff sides, dragging his stomach across the stone with a scrape, metal armored skin glinting softly.

A soft flicker of blue flame seeped from his lips, turning his head with a puff of cold air, turning and looking behind him as he dragged his long tail up from the hanging ledge. The darker dragon swirled his body, wings twitching just lightly as he panted gently, looking over the edge... gazing into the forest below. The movements of clouds, the distance below almost reminded him of being in the air... but he had no desire for flight now.

Deavin turned his head up, hearing the gentle echo that seeped down from the towering remainder of the mountain, a voice. His pressense on the mountain was no more then to check it out... the sounds, the movements of the ground and earth set him off. It had been years since he had traversed the mountain top, years since he had seen anything happen... the cloud of nothing he had drifted into had given him the inspiration, the curiosity to see what was going on,

"Come on Deavin, its only a short hop and a jump from here" he mumbled softly to himself, his green eyes glimmering softly as he clawed at the next cliff side.

Low and behold, his claws snapped up with a figure in sight. His cold breath seeped in, his large body pulling up against the hard stone, green eyes peering across and towards the shadowed being with little fright. There was something odd about the shadow,

"I ... didn't ... expect someone ... to be sightseeing ... in a place like this" he puffed, pulling his chest up from the rock, his metal armor scraping gently across the stone, his back legs clawing up before scrambling onto the side of the mountain. His wings twitching slightly again, his claws clicking in place against the mountain peak, stepping a few meters behind the shade now, his form large. It could be easily seen in his appearance, his words that Deavin had not been out of the late, his mind needed work, he needed to move more... he was unhealthy, "Were you here when the earth shook?" he softly spoke, his voice deeper then it used to be.

[Luxon Cobrat]

(OOC: Hoping this is still open. Looks like we need to pick up some activity.)

Moments after the dragon joined the shade, two more beings popped into existence nearby. No warning, no fanfare, they were just suddenly there- one a black-haired male with batlike wings, the other a purple-haired female with pointy ears who was at the moment surrounded by an aura of bluish light. The latter didn't seem at all pleased to be there, poorly-concealed fear showing in her eyes. After initially stumbling for a moment, disoriented from the teleportation, the girl glanced around to take in her surroundings and immediately noticed the dark being she had faced in the war standing nearby.

Nervously backing a few steps away from that one, she turned her gaze to the winged male.

"Rekka, what's going on here?" she asked, forcing a bit of anger into her voice. "Are you working with... him?"

"How's that, Nei?" Rekka asked, somewhat distractedly as he peered further into the mountains. "Never met the guy. Friend of yours?"

And without waiting for an answer, the incubus turned to look over the shade and the dragon himself.

"Good day, folks, and pardon my companion's manners," he addressed them. "Either of you happen to have any interest in that noise that just came from over this way?"

[Blue]

((Lol it's open x3 just been waiting for people to join))

His mind was in tangles, hints and rumors that he’d heard through the forest of… something being within the Mountains, or someone, but this made no sense. Why would the forest react so with earthquakes and odd explosions that left nothing behind? Sending boulders crashing down the Mountain and then leaving nothing to show how and why it did so other then the earthquake. His mind was in tangles alright, but it was more then what was going on in this forest, but that was a thought for another time.

When the dragon arrived on the hill, at first the Shade made no move to greet him, waiting as it scaled its way up to his seated position on the side of the mountain. His eyes turned to the dragon though, glowing and a slight smoke rising from them as his fingers remained pressed against one another in front of him. The dragon’s armor had scraped and made noise all the way up the mountain side, and what’s more the creature did not look to be in good health, quite the opposite. The Shade kept quiet as it spoke, tilting his head slightly to the side before turning to look back out at the forest.

“No, I was not here precisely, but below when a boulder nearly crushed my own form, though not highly likely as I was able to change positions easily enough.” His mind completely focused on what was going on, the questions that rose from this strange activity meant that he also did not acknowledge the presence of the next two that appeared on the Mountain. There was no point in being concerned with them, there were none in this forest that would dare to attack him, it was far too dangerous, they knew too little about him. Fighting a foe with no knowledge of their abilities, weapon capabilities, but knowing that they were powerful enough to be one of the Generals… no, only the foolish would dare attack and they would be dealt with swiftly. He did not miss the fear in the one woman’s voice though. She recognized him, and he her. From the War.

Questions asked and still for a time the Shade remained silent, looking out towards the forest and otherwise for the moment ignoring those that had gathered. Finally though, after a period of some minutes the Shade stood, resting his hand on the pommel of his sword and turned side-ways towards the group, one foot up on the rock face and one down below on the ledge.

“Child, do not think to belittle me,” he said to the woman as he stepped up onto the rock again. His steps were silent even though he was covered in armor. The air around him cold. The Shade remained standing where he had been, not moving closer or further away, indifferent to their presence.

“Technically,” said the Shade. “I do not think it so much as a noise as a phantasm of a noise. The other creatures of the forest took heed to the earthquake as you might have been aware of, but strange that they did not flinch as we all heard the cacophonous sound of an explosion and they did not?” His helmet remained attached to a chain at his side, and he seemed relaxed in his posture. Uninterested in battle. His sword remained settled in its scabbard of living shadow, the demon in his mind speaking to him in whispered thoughts.

[Barbannis]

Claws stung the ground as he pressed forward, tail swaying behind him not taking in the scent of the incoming new arrivals. His eyes peered only on the shade as he explained himself, it seemed the shadow's reason for being up here mirrored his own... the sound of the explosion, the movement of the mountains. He had only climbed into the heights of the mountains a couple times before, each time when it was dark and cold... but now it almost seemed calmer with the presence of others.

Others.

Deavin slowly turned, claws touching the stone ground as his glance passed back to the two new creatures approaching, ones that he had never seen before. His softly glowing eyes glimmered slightly, slowly letting his back end finally meet the cold rock surface of the cliff, his bound wings moving slightly, "Ah" he chimed in reply, slowly glancing back as the shadow, Rishcath, answered in his own way. Deavin could only snort slightly, looking to the one that spoke aloud, Rekka,

"That's why I came, from what I could hear... it almost seemed like it came from close to here." Deavin tilted his head slightly, tail swaying back, "Though he is right, with the magnitude of the sound, it is surprising that we are the only ones that came to check it out." He turned his eyes, flickering lightly, "I am Deavin.."

[Luxon Cobrat]

At the reprimand, Nei looked for a moment as if she might have said something back, but quickly decided against it. Her situation was too precarious right now to risk starting any fights. She would at least need to wait and see if the dragon was of any disposition to be willing to help her get away from Rekka first, and make sure it was strong enough to survive the incubus' potential wrath.

"To be fair, it is a bit of a walk up here," Rekka said. "But still, a good point. Some sort of psionic shockwave, perhaps."

And, as he had yet to formally drop his name...

"Rekka, he introduced himself. "And the lovely lady would be Nei."

Right about then, the ground started rumbling again, this time without stopping, and with more of a pattern.

"I don't think that's in my head," the demon remarked, his wings opening slightly in case they should suddenly be needed to assist him in keeping his balance.

[Blue]

Days like this had the Shade wondering how these creatures could have defeated an army quite literally composed of three different worlds in population, how one of them could have killed Ryvius. He still thought that was a fluke, more over he wondered if he had actually fought if the battle would have gone the other way… those were thoughts for another day, if they were even worth thinking on. He could see the rebuke on the female’s face, Nei was her name and the other Rekka, seemed indifferent. Well enough and it wasn’t in his interests to start a battle. The less who knew he was still around was probably preferable, but if news of his existence should spread it wasn’t anything he couldn’t handle.

He had theories, theories on what was going on, but he did not have enough information. Never having heard of such an anomaly due to… well, whether it was or not was a whole other problem for the Forest. Perhaps it was time to cut his losses, take his wolf, and leave back to where they’d come from. That itself could pose a problem, best to keep this forest safe… for the time being. His thoughts were interrupted by a rumbling beneath their feet, stronger here then in the forest. The rumbling in the earth was different, tremors that vibrated. The smaller rocks shifted, bouncing off the ground only slightly, but they moved. The air was soon filled with the sounds of sliding shale and pebbles, if these tremors kept up there was a chance more boulders would be rocked loose of their placement on the mountains, an avalanche was quite possible. Rekka made the obvious statement that these tremors certainly weren’t in their heads. Deavin seemed indifferent, or more pointedly, more polite then the others here on the Mountains. He seemed legitimately curious.

He could have made a snide comment, but rather then stir up trouble he settled for remaining silent. They had no need to know his name, names could be powerful things in the right hands. Instead he walked past Nei and Rekka, moving to the side of the Mountain and pressed his hand against the rock face. After that he moved towards an area just beside Deavin and knelt down, letting his hand rest on the ground, thoughtful he seemed to fade into nothing before appearing up above them, higher on the Mountains, still crouched, his hand to the ground and then disappeared again. Again, a short amount of time went by before he returned, cross legged where he’d originally been sitting.

“It seems that the Mountains themselves are the epicenter of the Quakes, though that is only a rough guess from a trip down to the forest. The tremors don’t seem quite so strong closer to the River, but that doesn’t mean that the tremors couldn’t be coming from behind the Mountains, or even from the wastes beyond and this area is directly in the line of the tremors movements.” He sighed, placing his fingertips against one another again, his hands out in front of him as he looked at them, though not at them. “There’s no pattern to these events, no… reason, but not everything needs a reason, the Plague was an example of that, but these? Other then the earth shuddering, a strange explosion that leaves no other trace then the doubts of sentient creatures… there is not enough information.”

He almost sounded frustrated, the Shade did not enjoy working on little information. Normally he preferred to collect as much data as he could before making an assumption, there was one thing he was sure of though; if Rekka, Nei, and Deavin had come to this area, more would come and perhaps they would bring more information.

“I intend to remain here, if the three of you came here to find out what is happening to the Forest chances are more shall come.”

[VPhoenix]

The Shade's words would soon be confirmed as the anthro, robotic, purple dragon simple called Dragontron; a name given to him by his maker Jack the hyena/fox anthro hybrid who had been a dweller of Deep forest, but after the battle with the demon Crimson Fury had been sent back to the realm in which Jack originated from. Dragontron for a good amount of time after his arrival in Deep Forest had been inactive for the most part, simple observing and collecting data as he explored Deep Forest. Dragontron's programming that was designed to help insure the safety of those that lived in Deep Forest became highly activated as his sensors began to pick up several vibrations which gave the impression that the possible source was due to some sort of fault movement, and the epicenter was in close proximity to the Boundary Mountains. Dragontron then ventured to the Mountains and started and tried to see if he could gather any useful information along the way. The closer he came to the Mountains though the more baffled the robot became, he did not see any geological clues that indicated that Deep Forest had experienced any kind of tectonic interactions in its geologic past nor could he find any evidence of recent faulting caused by the quakes which he surely expected to find some indications of.

Dragontron kept his scanners at full power, hoping to pick any clues to this phenomena, however as he arrived at the base of the Boundary Mountains he had learned nothing new in fact the only valuable data had thus far was that the quakes seemed to be centered in this area . Looking up towards the mountain peaks Dragontron watched as rock fragments came crumpling down the mountainside as the earth shook again, his sensors only showing the magnitude of the quake but still unable to pin point a source. Dragontron decided to climb up the peaks thinking that the higher up the mountains might reveal some crucial factors to what was going on. Dragontron's metal claws dug into the hillside as he started to climb up at a rather accelerated rate given the climb did not drain hardly enough of his energy allowing him to scale the mountain with out needing to rest. As Dragontron ascended towards the peek he scanned the surroundings areas but only see where parts of rocks had broken free. What he found extremely odd was the fact the rocks all seemed to fracture in very unnatural manner and could not come up with any distinct strip or dip measurements that would help him explain what was happening in Deep Forest. Since scientific approaches were not seeming to be of any aid he started to process through his data bank to see if if any supernatural information that he had been uploaded with could help determine the cause, and as he neared the top nothing useful was coming up.

Dragontron's sensors began to pick up signs of sentient lifeforms on the mountain top as his hands at last reached the top. He could hear the collection of various voices nearby and he pulled himself up on to the mountain he noticed various beings had gathered here, and most likely for the same purpose he had ventured to the Boundary Mountains as well. Dragontron stood there quite, the group seemed to be in conversation and he wished not interrupt their mode of thought. Instead he just stood a few feet away from the others, his eyes scanning over them, and trying to figure out what they were exactly beyond what simple physical observations yielded.

[Barbannis]

Deavin's claws clicked into the ground firmer, feeling the change in the mountains stance once more... just like before the tremors began, but there were more then last time, the explosion had faded back now, replaced with the almost constant rumble that formed. His claws clenched into the stone of the mountain face, his eyes flickering to the side and looking across the mountain scape, as if in an attempt for answers. But the rumblings gave him nothing, only the sound. It was hard to pin point the exact center of where the tremors were forming... for all he knew, the shadow was right, and that they were coming from the wastes... under the mountains, he knew not. The dragon turned his gaze, his legs moving out, standing on all fours again, his folded back wings tight against his back,

"Two years ago the weather changed rapidly... maybe something is coming back" Although he had been snug and safe in the depths of the old dragon caves at that time, he had known of the war, of the sky changing and what appeared... but the ground had not shook like this. His eyes flickered slightly, looking across as the ground once more uplifted in another rumble, this time further constant, changing from what it had been before.

His claws dug in tight against the ground, on all fours now with his tail swaying back, his eyes moving across and looking out over the forest. The center of the rumbles was hard to find with the amount of movement... there was no loud explosion or bang to follow on suit with the ruptures of the ground. His head swiveled back and looked across the mountain side, once more doubting his decision to come so high to check it out. The stronger the movements, the more his balance was swayed... but it was not yet enough to knock him down, let a long his height and body mass.

The metal dragons eyes shone a soft blue, looking to the shade and back to the others, taking in notice of another new arrival. But his greetings were pulled back, concern for the happenings of the ground, "It's getting worse!" he spoke out, lifting a claw and scraping it across the stone, "Remaining here might be a bad idea" he almost replied to the shades words of staying.

[Luxon Cobrat]

(OOC: Changing up Rekka's text color here to make it readable with the background color.)

Rekka watched with some interest as the shade disappeared and reappeared a moment later to report his findings on the location of the quake's epicenter. So, another creature that could teleport. He had no complaints about letting someone else do a bit of the grunt work, but was a bit disappointed in the lack of precision in the dark one's findings. No matter, though. It would only take a bit of trial and error for the incubus to zero in on it himself if he were so inclined. But he wasn't really taking this whole thing all that seriously.

"You think it's more Necrosis?" Nei asked the dragon after he mentioned the event of two years ago.

To her, that felt like a real possibility. Rekka had informed her of the length of time that had passed since that war, but she had missed those two years. For her, the battle still seemed like a recent event that had only happened a few days ago.

"Ooh, you think it might be?" Rekka echoed, sounding noticably more enthusiastic than Nei. "Maybe I'll be more careful today. I still hate that I missed a good fight like that one just because I was dead at the time. Oh, hey, feels like whatever's causing the quakes is moving."

As he said that last bit nonchalantly, the incubus gave a nod of greeting to the newest creature to arrive. Nei, meanwhile, was feeling quite a bit more concerned with the growing danger, the frantic desperation to get away from there starting to show in her eyes. Rekka just lazily leaned back against the side of the mountain.

"I-I'm with... Deavin," she finally stuttered. Though she hated that she was letting Rekka push her into showing her fear, she didn't want to get herself killed to save her pride. "I don't think this is the place to be now."

"Bah, it'll be fine," Rekka said, then teleported a few feet to the side just as a boulder slammed down right where he had been standing. "Just use your shield. You've been keeping that up anyway. By the way, how long do you think that thing can last?"

It wasn't really a question Nei wanted to think about at the moment.

"It... won't do any good for us to wait around up here in the Mountains if whatever we're dealing with is moving towards the Forest,"" Nei tried.

"Guess I can't argue with that," the demon finally conceded.

[Blue]

((Apologies, life has been rather hectic this last month I should have notified you guys, sorry.))

The Shade leant back from his sitting position and laid back with his hands behind his head with a sign of contentment. Smiling to himself as the other creatures fretted over what was happening. What did it matter? There was no force on this planet that could stop the planet from changing. Of all the wars waged back in his own dimention that was one war he knew no creature would win. Try to stop the earth from quaking and you could rip the ground right out from under your own feet. Try to stop a storm from brewing, you were the first to be struck by lightning.

“You may do as you wish as you see fit. I have my own suspicions about these mountains and even if they are proved to be unfounded, I suspect that over time the Mountains will become the safest area to be, for all the rock falls. A mountain is not quite as unstable as, say, a meadow? The trees? Those giants, if they fall, will crush a great many creatures. Most of which do not have a particular skill to appear somewhere else whenever they wish.”

It wasn’t that the Shade couldn’t feel that the shaking was getting worse, but it was also moving towards the Forest, sure the Mountains may have a couple of slides and the like, but as it was.

Then… nothing. The Shade sat straight up right, looking around as he pressed a hand to the ground under them. Watching the trees in front of them that were no longer quivering. Nothing was moving. Silence. No calls of birds, the prey animals and predators within the area had also gone. He didn’t know this, but somehow the soundless forest before him gave off an eerie quality of silence.

“‘Unusual’ does not quite describe the situation at this time…”

((Short post is short. Sorry again.))

[VPhoenix]

Dragontron listened carefully to all those that were speaking to gather as much useful information as possible before he attempted to formulate his own hypothesis about this situation. The wide range of creatures, most of which his existing database had very limited to no information, all made valid points of how to proceed with these quakes. The black, shadowy being that had spoken last appeared to be the most logical of the group. Dragontron then looked about doing a quick scan of the area, and was rather surprised he could not find anything, no geological formation contacts that were affected by all known existing affects of faulting, no places with strike and dip measurements that were indicative of faulting, nothing of geological use to explain what was going on. The motion soon came to an abrupt and awkward stop, for it was not a steady change of motion, but stopped as soon as or possible even faster than the quaking started. Dragontron tried to do a quick bio reading seeing if he could do a survey of any damage the quaking has done. There was only signs of very minimal damage from the quakes, but what he found as "strange" was the lack of bio readings. There was no doubt many creatures fled due to the violent shaking, but for some reason it all seemed out of place, as if something had scared all the creatures away.

"The one who has spoken before makes a very logical point" Dragontron said referring to the shade, seeing as that was the only means he had to reference him. "These mountains will be the safest place during a quake, especially if there is a flat area with minimal amount of loose debris. There is no geological proof of quakes destroying mountains, all current concepts of plate tectonics shows most plate movement results in mountain building, not destruction; however, given there is little scientific explanations for these quakes at this time, there is no way to truly make a hypothesis of it will act, more information is required before a reasonable action can be taken" he said loud enough for all to hear him.

[Blue]

((Rishcath is out of this thread now, 'fraid I've lost all inspiration for him, if you guys like we can just close this thread, the plot is moving too slow for me))

[VPhoenix]

((Dragontron is leaving thread too, I'm fine with closing thread))

[Luxon Cobrat]

((Right. I suppose I'll pull Rekka and Nei out too. No problem closing it.))