What Could Have Been

Zenith was out cold, though he twitched some in his sleep, as if dreaming still about the fight. In the mean time Artemis had finished up and finally came back. Noticing Zenith asleep he screeched at them, in anger at Rosey and in an attempt to wake him up. She cringed when Artemis screeched at them. She tried to get up again, but her body was just not having it. She groaned and wished she had handled the situation better rather than lose control. Artemis walked over to her and rammed his foot down onto her stomach, digging his talons in. "When will he wake up?" He asked, his voice less quiet then it usually was. Rosey yelped in pain when Artemis stomped onto her stomach with his talons digging in. "I..I don't... know..." She coughed. He spread his wings before leaning down and looking at her. "You should have left us alone. Or picked a better side." Artemis leaned back, balancing with his wings. "Should I let you go? Would you come back?" She flinched and her ears bent back. "I just... I was just going to talk... him out of it...." She said. She hadn't wanted the situation to dissolve into what it did. "I can't move." She snapped at Artemis. She was struggling to stay awake. "Then you should have talked better." He pulled his talons out. "If you tell me where you want to go I'll take you there, but you need to wake Zenith when you've recovered." "Why?" Rosey growled. Even if she hadn't wanted to get into the fight and have everything turn into chaos, she had planned to put Zenith to sleep if he wouldn't listen to reason. "Because I said so." Artemis hissed. "If you don't want to I'll finish you off right now." She frowned and glared at Artemis. "How about instead you bring Cadvasus to discuss it." She growled. "And you should thank Lillium for me being involved in this at all." She snapped. "I wondered where she went." Artemis sneered before coughing. He still couldn't quite laugh. "If you're so desperate to die then fine, I'll go get him." He took flight, his feathers rustling as he sped off. "Wait what?" Rosey asked and scowling as he already left. She figured that probably meant she should try to leave. She struggled, trying to get up and managed to stand. There was no way that she'd be able to teleport, so instead she stumbled as she tried to find some place to hide. She ended up falling again as her legs continued to refuse holding up her weight. It was only a minute or two until Cadvasus appeared, standing above her. "If you weren't so close to Zenith I'm sure one of the other phages in the area would have made it here before me." She flinched and covered her head with her hands as if to shield herself. "Don'thurtme. I didn't mean for the situation to dissolve into this." She said quickly. She had no idea whose side Cadvasus was on or if she was supposed to intervene at all at this point. "Lillium bugged me and I came and no one tells me anything about what's going on." She was frightened of Cadvasus for many reasons, but also she felt vulnerable at that moment because of how weak and tired she was. "I don't plan on it, but if you make me I will." He leaned down and moved to pick her up. "And I doubt she pestered you into doing this. You probably did exactly what she wanted you to do." Rosey cringed as she was picked up. "..I don't like her in my house.." She said, frowning. Cadvasus looked down at her. "I don't like you in mine, so where am I taking you. Make it quick or I'll be taking you to my sister." She flinched and looked away. "My house." She said.

As Zenith was struggling to put the fire out, Artemis was starting to recover, shaking some as he moved to stand up and go after the other members of the Council. By now they were some ways away and he was going to have to go after them individually. Rosey got up, stumbling some, once Zenith was off her. She snarled at him as the fire on her diminished. She didn't pay attention to Artemis, completely forgetting the reason she had been stopping the phages, as she lit the hand that hadn't been bitten on fire and tried to pin Zenith down. Zenith squirmed as he was pinned, trying to get away from her. He moved to bite her again. He could feel himself getting afraid, and knew if she kept it up he would enter a frenzy soon. Artemis looked back at where they were, and decided he would come back and help as soon as he was done with his first task. She snarled in rage at Zenith and moved to backhand him with her firey hand when he tried to bite her again. She then tried to bite him while she had him pinned. Zenith screeched, shifting to his phagean form as the frenzy took over. Doing so he took down several buildings and crushed the frozen phages below him. Compared to the last time he had taken on his form in front of Rosey he had nearly doubled in size. Rosey took flight when he shifted, her wings no longer being locked. She seemed to snap out of it a little bit, now faced with a problem that was a lot larger. She tried to carefully land on his head. Zenith roared, shaking his head and snarling. He flapped his wings, trying to send enough air at her as well to knock her off. She clung on tightly as best as she could, not wanting to be knocked off. She then bit her own good hand and placed it against Zenith's head as she began chanting Re'Lith to try and put him back to sleep. This was risky for her on account she had already wasted energy fighting and she still wasn't in the right state of mind to pull off spells without recoil. He roared again, trying more desperately to knock her off, though as the spell started to kick in his head fell lower and his movements more sluggish, until finally he fell to the ground, asleep. When he fell asleep and fell to the ground, Rosey fell off his head as exhaustion hit her. Her phagean wings had turned to stone and broke into pieces when she hit the ground, causing pain to surge through her. She calmed down and returned to normal, but she was dazed and didn't fully understand what just happened. She struggled to try to get up, but wasn't able to and laid there in exhaustion and pain.

"Because this isn't the way to fix things!" She snapped at him. "You're stooping down to their level." She stated. "Not to mention you're letting the other phages cause havoc on this town." She growled. "I understand Phages are treated unfairly, but they can't just be allowed to go eating souls willy-nilly. I mean for fuck's sake, vampires have better control than you guys do! Look at me! I'm fighting with myself just to not go frenzied on you!" She yelled. It was true as black was starting to creep into the whites of her eyes. "Look at yourself and what you're doing to them! You honestly think you have any self-control to be allowed to roam without some kind of constraint!?" "Maybe it's because we haven't gone a day without being hungry." Zenith snarled. "Maybe it's because we aren't given chances so we're making one."     Rosey frowned. "It can't be helped that phages are always hungry." She said and shifted a bit. "If I was able to give you all my ability to not be hungry, I would, but as far as I know it isn't possible." She said. "I don't think you're really listening to me right now." He said, crushing the skull of the council member he had with the one hand he had been holding it with. "What I'm saying is that we wouldn't be so hungry if we could just eat every week. Instead we're forced to sit and rot in a cave." She cringed and shifted some, getting bothered by the blood around her. "You're not listening to me. You can't just eat souls like that! You're more focused on feeding your gut than on what happens to those souls you eat!" She snapped, her hand twitching some. "Why does that matter?" Zenith asked, watching her hand carefully and licking the blood off his own. "From what I understand there's an overpopulation problem. And maybe now it doesn't matter who we're taking, it's a rebellion, but we're willing to compromise, to feed off those who were going to be punished anyway." "Maybe I should show you why it matters." Rosey threatened, her expression suddenly darkening as the blackness crawled more over the whites of her eyes. Zenith glared, noticing the change and baring his fangs. "If all you wanted to do was fight me than you should have said so sooner." She snarled at him as her wings became phagean. She hadn't wanted to fight him, but the situation was becoming too overbearing on her with the blood and anger setting her off. She lunged at him with her sword.

Apart from noises above deck and the occasional conversation in the hall as the crew changed shifts, no-one came by for hours. Eventually the same member as before walked in, carrying a plate heaped with different types of fruit. Sin had jumped a bit when the crew member walked in. She had spent the past hours focusing on trying not to freak out from being cooped up in a small space. It was obvious that she was pretty tense even with her best efforts as her tail was completely bristled. She looked at the plate of fruit he was carrying, wondering if the wizards had told them what she ate. "From your expression I take it this is okay?" He set it down on the table nearby. "If you behave it's possible I might untie you to eat." "Eating is the last thing on my mind honestly." She said, frowning. "Will I be allowed to go on deck? I doubt you'd have to worry about me flying away." She said, shifting her injured wings slightly to make a point. "Maybe when we are closer the captain will grant permission to go above. For today I do not think so. We are barely above the land we set off from." He moved over to her and set his hands on the ropes. "For now he has said it is okay to untie you in this room if you behave." "Well tell him I have a phobia of closed spaces." She said, obviously a bit agitated. "I'll 'behave', not like I can do much anyway." She huffed. "Then he will laugh and give you a smaller room." The crew mate bluntly stated, deftly untying the ropes and moving back to the door in case she lashed out at him. "He sounds charming." Sin said sarcasticly. She sat up, only to wobble in the hammock until she could get her feet planted on the floor though not daring to get up as she didn't want to add motion sickness to her list of problems. She rubbed her wrists and glared at the bracelet Roderic was so 'kind' to give her before looking at the crew mate. "I'd ask more questions about this place I'm being kidnapped to, but I doubt I'll get much answers." She said. "Why should that stop you from asking them?" The crew mate asked, still watching her warily. "I don't think curiosity ever actually killed a cat." She scratched behind her ear some. "I think I'd qualify as a cat that has been killed by curiosity, though I guess satisfaction has brought me back." She mumbled more to herself. "Fine then.. Where am I being brought to? Is it true there's no... magik there?" She asked, looking at him. He studied her, thinking how to explain it. "The explorers from these lands have never gone north, that is where we are going, where we are from." The crew mate shifted and gestured to the plate. "You should eat." "I never knew it existed." She stated. "But then again I was never good at geography anyway." She then paused and looked at the fruit, unsure of it. "...So... Slavery is allowed there?" She asked, frowning. "Why?" She picked up one of the fruits to sniff at it, probably being overly cautious. "We need workers in jobs others do not want." He answered flatly, watching her. "Because there is no magik, there are no shortcuts. Because there are no shortcuts, life is hard." "I don't think forcing others to do it is the right way to solve your problems." Sin said before hesitantly taking a bite of the fruit. "And just because we have magik, doesn't mean our life is any easier. We have our own problems and responsibilities." She stated. "I mean look where magik got me right now." She said, frowning at him. He simply looked away, silent. He didn't see any reason to explain himself to a foreigner. She stuck her tongue out at him before going back to eating the fruit. She wondered if Eteth had noticed she was gone yet. Even if he had, how would he find her much less get to her? "Is there someone you are thinking about?" The crew mate asked, noting her silence. Sin frowned. "Yes." She stated. "Why?" She asked, unsure why it would matter to the crew mate. He shrugged. "We know little of you, and of southern people, so I thought I would ask." "We could say the same for you." She stated. She then sighed some. "I'm Sin... Relmik. Wife of Eteth Relmik. Eteth is the Magus Rex. I'm a mage, but also a gray wizard and a ligereep." She stated and shrugged. "Magus...Rex?" The crew mate asked, blinking some. "What do those words mean?" "It means he's the Mage King." Sin said. "The one in charge." She said before finishing the fruit she had picked from the plate. "In charge of what? The other land the wizard spoke of?" "Who's the one in charge over on your land?" She asked, not answering his other questions. "We have no set king or ruler." He answered. "It is whoever has the most power each year." Sin blinked a bit confused. "What do you mean by the most power?" She asked. "Hmmm, I wonder." He answered before opening the door. "I need to leave now." She frowned, even more confused. "Right..." She said before going to lay back down on the hammock. She was still trying to figure out what he meant by power if they didn't have magik. Money maybe?

As they rode into town many of the citizens looked at them, and were usually quick to move out of the way. Whether it was because of the dragoons or the fact that wizards were there was not made entirely apparent. Sin also noticed how the citizens reacted to them. She thought maybe they were looking at her as she thought she probably looked odd what with her ligereep features and dragon wings. She was uncomfortable with it and just tried to focus on what the town was like as she tried to understand where they've brought her and why. They started to head towards the docks, Roderic and the other two wizards carefully weaving their way through the busy town. She was becoming more confused by each passing moment, wondering why they brought her here. It wasn't the lab and it wasn't a place with magic, so she wasn't sure what else they could have planned for her. Realizing she probably looked confused, she tried to hide the fact that it bothered her that she didn't know what was going on. "Did you think we were sending you somewhere on Worthil?" Roderic asked as they neared the docks, where several ships were pulled into port and much of the town activity originated. Sin became more confused. If they weren't taking her somewhere on Worthil, why did they bring her here? Was there somewhere else that she didn't know of? Seeing as they were going to the docks, she guessed there might be islands she never heard of or been to. She had found the dragon island once, so she guessed there could be more. They headed towards one of the larger ships where there was a lot more activity and people who looked more advanced than Espkiel or Worthil technologically. Seeing as the people seemed more technologically advanced, Sin started to become worried though she tried not to let it show on her face as she did not want to give Roderic the satisfaction. They pulled up fairly close to the main port before dismounting the dragoons, the creatures giving out a slight squawk of dissatisfaction. Sin tried to struggle against the immobilization again, now more concerned about whereever they're taking her to and wanting to escape more. Roderic tightened the immobilization, leaving her on the dragoon as he headed to one of the ship's crew. "Is your lead trader around?" He asked. She glared at Roderic as he tightened the immobilization before blinking at what he had asked one of the crew. She was unsure why he wanted to find a trader until she connected the dots and frowned. Having the thought that Roderic might be trying to make her a slave, her gaze became an angry glare aimed at Roderic. The black and white wizard headed back towards her, the black one starting to tie ropes around her wrists. "So you finally figured it out, did you?" Sin glared angrily at the wizards, wishing she could move and snap at them. She instead silently mouthed the words 'It won't work' in defiance. "Sadly it probably will." The white wizard stated. "Roderic's spells have a greater range then ours do." Her eyes flashed red as she glared at them. She then struggled against the immobilization as hard as she was able. All her concentration was on trying to break the immobilization. Several cracks started to form around the spell, and as they did the other wizards either strengthened it or tried to distract her. Sin ignored them as she tried to keep her concentration on breaking the immobilization. Even when the other wizards strengthened it, she kept fighting against it and fought harder. The two wizards glanced at each other before sending a spell to knock her out. She was startled when they sent a spell to knock her out, having no way to counter it. She mentally cursed them when she lost consciousness. Sin woke up after a while. She looked around groggily, trying to get her eyes to focus on where she was. When she remembered what happened last before she was knocked unconscious, she became panicked and looked around, realizing she was most likely on a boat now. They had left her tied up and it seemed like Roderic had set up a long distance spell on a bracelet around her wrist. They had at least set her in a hammock in it rocked with the boat's motion over the waves. She tried to move and see what spells were put on her and what the bracelet was. She silently cursed the fact that they had managed to put her on the boat. The bracelet was there to prevent any aggressive spell as well as stop her from teleporting away. One of the crew members stepped into the room apparently to check on her. "You're awake. Good." Sin's ears bent back and she immediately glared and growled at the crew member. She didn't know anything about them and she was tense enough as it were. She tried to sit up and immediately tried to bite the ropes on her. "If you really want them off then relax." He stated, watching her. "Why?" She asked, glaring at him as she was still on the defensive. "I'm not exactly in the best position here to trust whatever anyone here says." She stated. She was pretty frazzled and wasn't sure what to do since she didn't know what to expect from the new situation and area. "Yes but looking like you want to tear us to pieces won't make us trust you enough to take those ropes off." He smiled some. "From what we were told we shouldn't trust you, but our captain doesn't trust 'wizards' to begin with." Sin paused, now more confused and hesitant. "...Wizards shouldn't be trusted. They're assholes." She stated. She looked at him warily before looking back to check the status of her dragon wings. They had bandaged and patched them up as best they could, but it was clear they would take a while to heal. "To be honest we don't trust many of the southerners." The crew member stated. "But I only came to see how you were. I'll be off now. Some other mate'll be by to feed you later." She frowned at her wings, knowing she wouldn't be able to make them go away until they'd healed, which meant she'd look like more of an oddity than usual. She looked back at the crew member, still rather confused. She frowned at the mention of food, not sure she'd trust whatever they gave her. "If you're worried what we might bring you it won't be poisoned." The crew mate said opening the door and leaving for good this time. Sin's ears flicked forwards before flicking back, still not sure what to make of the crew member. When he left she once again tried to bite through the ropes on her, not liking having limited movement. The ropes were the sort they used on the ship and not the one the wizards had used, so they were more resilient then usual. She growled in frustration at the ropes. She then sighed and looked around the room as that was all she could do at the moment. She knew if she tried to get up, she'd probably fall out of the hammock and then not be able to get back in it. The room wasn't really furnished apart from the hammock. There was a chair nailed to the floor as well, but apart from that had nothing else to speak of. Sin looked at the door, wondering if it was locked. She also wondered if she'd be allowed to walk around on deck at all if she got the crew's trust. She tried not to think about it, but she didn't know how long she'd be able to deal with being stuck in that room before her claustrophobia sets in.

Roderic continued to grin, slowing the dragoon again to prevent it from growing over exhausted. "Is that so?" "Yes." Sin snapped angrily before moving to sit back up when the dragoon slowed down. "It doesn't seem that way to me." He stated, "It seems quite the opposite, actually." She clenched her teeth, wanting so badly to turn back and slap him. "I bet you were absolutely terrified when Death came and ate your soul piece by piece!" She snapped at him. Roderic stiffened, clearly frightened before recovering. "I'm sure he's aching to do the same thing to you." "No." Sin said grinning and looking back at him, glad she now had the upper hand of the conversation. "He has actually saved me several times." She said. "I'm sure he'd have no problem doing it to you again though." She wasn't going to summon Cadvasus though because she knew better. She had to stop relying on him or Eteth to save her... especially now that it seemed things might be more difficult. Roderic pulled his dragoon to a halt just as a town came into view on the horizon. Glaring he picked up Sin and dropped her to the ground. "Tie her up." He ordered the black wizard nearby. "We'll drag her the rest of the way since she's so eager to be away from me." She frowned when he suddenly stopped before cringing and squirming when he picked her up. She flinched and stumbled a bit when she was dropped to the ground. Her ears bent back and she started backing up when he said they were going to drag her. "....W-wait...Can't I ride with Snow coat instead?" She said, pointing at the white wizard from before. By now the black wizard had dismounted and was pulling rope out from one of the bags. Roderic was clearly thinking about it, but wasn't seeing any reason to give her a second chance just yet. Sin kept backing up while the black wizard was pulling rope from the bag. She was looking around, trying to come up with some way of escaping. She looked at the Dragoons, wondering if there was a way for her to make them dart away with fright. Roderic's dragoon had lowered its head to look at her again, it's dark eyes narrowed in annoyance. She backed up when the dragoon looked at her. She then thought for a moment. Would they be frightened of dragons since they were smaller? She decided to access the dragon part of her and took a deep breath before attempting to do a dragon roar to try and scare them off. The dragoons skittered some, sidestepping away from her before letting out a higher pitched roar in response. They were trained just enough to stay their ground if they were frightened, but clearly didn't like it. If anything it helped make up Roderic's mind. "Tie her up now." He yelled at the black wizard, who had frozen in place when she roared. Sin flinched when they roared in response, shaking her head. She looked at the wizards and backed up again before realizing... her dragon form! They stopped her magik and made it difficult for her to run, but not flying. She tried to have her dragon wings come out, trying to have them appear and take off like a bullet before anyone could have the wise idea of immobilizing her. The only thing that gave away that she was up to something was the look of concentration on her face as she tried to access her wings. "Magic isn't going to help you." The black wizard stated as he approached her. She cringed as pain went through her back as she tried to make her wings appear, it was a lot more difficult to do than to just change to her full dragon form. She screeched to try and make the black wizard stop to stall and give her more time. The black wizard backed up some, startled. Frustrated Roderic cast a silencing spell on her. "If you don't do it now you'll be joining her down there." He snapped. Sin glared at Roderic when he silenced her. She then cringed and doubled over in pain when she made her dragon wings appear, having not expected it to be so painful. She didn't have time to recover though as she knew she'd only have a moment from everyone's shock. She quickly tried to take flight to try and get out of their magic range. Roderic jumped down from his dragoon when his initial shock wore off and immediately tried to immobilize her. The other two immediately followed suite, the white wizard being more aggressive as he aimed shards of rock at her wings. She flew to dodge the immobilization spells, but what did hit her was the rocks. The extra pain added on to her already sore back caused her wings to lock up. She cringed in pain when she crashed into the ground and silently swore in frustration and rage. She struggled to try and get up and attempt to get away again. As soon as she fell Roderic sent his strongest immobilization spell at her. Sin flinched when she was hit with the immobilization. She glared at them as she was stuck lying on the ground.

  The creature snorted some before shaking it's head and looking back at the road. Apparently it wasn't interested in her just then. Moments later, it had stood up and started walking as Roderic gave the signal to move out.

Eteth walked out from where he had been watching, wondering just how much calmer she was. "Having some issues?" "Leave me alone Eteth." She snapped, not looking at him. "Go back to your wife and play chess with the wizards or whatever you even do." Eteth bristled at that. "That's where I would be right now if I weren't so concerned with your plans." "Afraid I'll hurt your precious little Queen?" She growled. :"It's not her I'm afraid for." He answered, glaring. "But that's not the point. It's irresponsible is what it is." "I don't care." Rosey stated bluntly, still staring at the horizon. Getting annoyed now, Eteth walked closer to the tree and looked up at her. 'I doubt that." "Look I know you're here to scold me and try to get me to talk about my issues and probably punish me in some degree, but I really don't care." She growled before going to him and glaring at him. "Go on. Turn me to stone. Shock me. Use me as a punching bag or some joke. Order me around like the puppet I am. Threaten to hurt my friends and family." She snapped and moved to shove him. "Everyone else does." "I'm not going to give you what you want." He answered, stepping back when she went to shove him. "If I wanted to do any of that I would have done it while you were a phage." "Then what do you want?" Rosey growled and leaned back against the tree with her arms crossed. "Warn you." He answered. "Because if you do decide to go through with that plan of yours I won't hesitate to do all that and more if it's the last thing I do. Understand that if you go through with your plan all of that would fall on me, and I'm getting tired of being stone." "Go ahead!" She snapped, baring her teeth. "Even if I were to go through with it, there'd be nothing left of me once the phages were through with me." She said before turning away to lean against the tree. "But maybe you should focus more on how Sin is a ticking time bomb rather than me, because even if I don't cause what will set her off, someone else will." She then shrugged. "Don't listen to me though, I'm just some bitch who keeps trying to get out of her job." He glared at her, his eyes flashing red. "If you're trying to get out of your job with this scheme it won't work. Even after the phages tore you apart the Council would find some way to put you back together. Once your name is down on their lists it doesn't go away." He smirked then. "There's one way out of it, and I don't plan on telling it to you." Rosey's ears drooped and she leaned more heavily on the tree, but didn't turn to face him. "You left Sin alone didn't you? Who else do you think heard about her soul being special that might want to mess with it and will take advantage of you not being there?" She muttered, her voice wavering slightly. "Why do you care?" He snapped, thinking about it. "Besides, I would find out if anyone passed through the barriers I set up...wouldn't I?"     "I don't. I just want to be left alone." She stated. He frowned, wondering if what she said before was a threat or not. "Fine. Go ahead and brood. But remember what I said." With that he teleported away. When he left, Rosey slid down into sitting position. "Not like I ever have a choice anymore... I just want to be free from these chains..." She muttered to herself.

Rosey was pacing around in her house, annoyed that Sin had managed to get her in trouble somehow and got Lillium's attention. She was also angry that since Lillium apparently didn't like her that was why she convinced her to go to Cadvasus's coronation. As far as she was concerned, Lillium wasn't a welcome guest to her house anymore. Lillium still had several ways she could get her revenge without being overly aggressive. One of them happened to be making her own doors, and that was just what she had done, setting one in the middle of Rosey's living room. She was startled when she noticed the door in the middle of the room. She frowned, knowing it was Lillium, and didn't want to open. She didn't know what to do with it though and contemplated burning it. She eventually decided to move a chair in front of it to try and keep it from opening on its own, though she wasn't sure which side it opened. Lillium wasn't going to just set a door there and do nothing, so after a little while, she decided to knock. It became clear that there was no definite way the door opened when she did so, as it sounded like it could come from both sides. Rosey growled and her ears bent back when there came a knock from the door. She decided to just ignore it and leave the room. Valir had been watching from a distance though and as soon as his mother left the room, he went over to the door to try to open it. He was curious about the strange door and wondered why his mother wouldn't open it. Lillium sensed it hadn't been Rosey to open the door, and silently appeared on the other side without much fuss. Seeing Valir she curtsied some. "Hello there." "Hi." Valir greeted, more curious of the strange newcomer. "Who are you?" He asked before looking over the door. "How you get here?" Behind her the living room continued like she wasn't even there. "I came through this door." She answered bending down some. "If you close it, I'll be right back on the other side." His ears twitched some and he looked over the door, more curious and confused by it. "Does it work on anyone?" He asked. "What do you mean?" She asked, smiling a little. "Could I go through it?" He asked. He knew of other magical doors, but they weren't in the middle of the room like this one was, so it made him more curious. Lillium thought some. "Not through this one. Perhaps through a different one." "Aw." He said frowning. Rosey walked back into the room only to frown on seeing that Valir had opened the door. "Valir! Close that door and get away from there." She said, keeping her distance and not looking at Lillium. Valir looked over at his mother in confusion, wondering what the big deal was. "You should listen to your mother." Lillium stated, standing up straight. "She only wants to do what's best for you." He tilted his head to one side. "But." "Valir!" She pressed. He frowned, looking between the two before going to close the door. Lillium waved goodbye as the door closed. It stayed exactly where it was, though, waiting to be opened again. Rosey glared at the door when it stayed where it was. "Go to your room." She told Valir. He pouted before going to go exactly that. She sighed before turning her attention back on the door. She hesitated before trying to see if she could light the door on fire. The door caught fire easily, but as soon as it disappeared, two new doors reappeared, Lillium giggling behind them. Her tail bristled when two new doors reappeared. She growled and glared at them. "Leave me alone!" She snapped at the doors. "I'm tired of you and your family's games." "Are you too afraid to open these doors?" Lillium answered. "I really wonder why...I was having such a nice conversation." "I'm not afraid!" She snapped, crossing her arms. "I just don't want to." Lillium was quite for a moment before there was a knocking sound from both doors at once. Rosey frowned when the doors both sounded like they were being knocked. She turned away. "I'm not going to open the door. Go away." She continued to knock despite Rosey's assertion that she didn't plan on opening the doors. She could technically do it all day if she wanted to since she wasn't physically doing it. She glared at the doors as they continued to knock before sighing in annoyance. She reluctantly went over to open one of the doors, deciding to just get it out of the way. Unlike when Valir opened the door, there was just darkness on the other side rather than Lillium or a continuation of the living room. Rosey stared in confusion when there was just darkness on the otherside of the door. "...What?" The darkness echoed back at her. "What?" Her skin prickled some and she moved to close the door again. "Getting real tired of these games." She grumbled. "What game?" A voice whispered behind the door, followed by a faint tinkling. Rosey's ears flicked forward at the whisper. Not wanting whoever it was to come out of the doors, she went to try to burn the doors again. The doors burned as easily as the first, this time seeming to disappear. In all actuality, three were now spread out throughout her house. She sighed when the doors disappeared and seemed to stay gone. She then frowned though as she thought that maybe they appeared elsewhere. She went to search the house for the doors.     At least one of the doors had appeared in her bedroom, as it stood free floating in the same way those in the living room had. The other two had taken up spaces on walls in the hallway, trying to disguise themselves. Rosey didn't really notice the ones on the walls since she was expecting for the doors to just be in the middle of the room. She frowned when she found one in her room. She growled and went to kick it in agitation. There was a knock at the door in response to her kick, echoing what she did again. "Go away!" She snapped, getting more agitated by this game. There was no answer from the door this time as it remained seemingly silent. Rosey glared at it for a bit before going to open again it to see if it was still darkness. This time it swung open to just show the other side of her bedroom instead. Lillium knew exactly what she wanted to do and now wasn't the time for it. She growled at the door before going to close it again and leave the room, still annoyed that the door was there especially in her room.

A younger black dragon was investigating the territory as, even though he was too young to sense there was a territory, he could smell others that were part of his family. Manic was actually misbehaving and had strayed far away from his mother. He noticed the hole and looked down it curiously to see Crow. " 'ello?" Crow looked up from where he was resting, somewhat surprised to see an unfamiliar dragon.  "Who are you?" he asked, glaring. "Manic. Who you?" He said as he walked around the hole. He scratched some at the stone walls, noticing that there was something odd about them. "Why you down there?" He asked. "Crow." He answered, standing up. "Someone threw me in here." Manic scratched at the walls then walked to the other side to scratch at them there before sitting down. "Someone fell you in." He declared, recognizing that the hole was magic made. "...Why?" He then asked and tilted his head to one side. "It's none of your business, is it?" Crow snapped, growling some. He didn't like that his lie hadn't worked. "...So you no need help?" He asked, watching him. "What? You gonna help me out?" He asked, frowning. "Yes." Manic said, leaping over the hole playfully. "Why?" Crow asked, getting annoyed by the way he was being mocked. "You smell family." He stated, poking his head over the edge again to look down at him. "So?" Crow asked, pacing some now. "Why would that matter?" "You black dragon. Like me. Like Dad. Like Mom." Manic said frowning some and thumping his tail in annoyance at having to explain why he did things. He then moved to hang off the ledge to offer his tail for Crow to grab hold of. The end of his tail looked like it could easily break someone's skull from blunt force. Crow scowled, wondering if he should really trust him before deciding he had nothing better to do anyway and jumping up to grab hold of it. "Who are your parents?" He grunted and dug his talons deeper into the ground when Crow grabbed onto his tail. He struggled to pull both him and Crow up and out of the hole. "Ki... Kane..." He panted as he managed to pull himself back up with Crow.  "I don't know who they are." He answered, though he thought maybe Dranz had mentioned one of them. Once they were safely out of the hole, Manic moved to pull his tail away from Crow. "Um.. My mom said Kane is Dranz son. You know Dranz?" He asked, looking at him. He moved closer to sniff him. "You are family I know." "Huh? Yea, he's my dad." Crow answered, confused now. He wondered if that made him Manic's uncle. It was a weird thought. Manic hopped around Crow happily. "You my Uncle then! Uncle Crow! Uncle Crow!" He said. He then plopped back down into a sit. "I have cool named Uncle." He then tilted his head to one side, looking him over. "You smaller than Dad, but you look strong." "Of course I am. I'm only small because I'm not grown-up yet." Crow answered, liking the compliments, but not sure if he could keep up with someone so energetic. "Go on adventure?" He asked, walking a bit back where he came before looking back at Crow. He figured if he had his Uncle with him, he now would no longer be in trouble for wandering off. "Where do you plan on adventuring?" Crow asked. He had planned on going off anyway, and if he had a distraction if something attack him then he could use him as bait. "New places!" Manic declared. He obviously had no idea where he was going and was actually lost, but if he had to, he could easily find his way back to his mom or dad from their scents. "Alright. Fine. But let's not go that way." Crow stated, pointing towards his home. "And I can't fly right now." "Ok." He said as he started walking. "I no fly too. I no know how." He said, stretching his wings some. "It's not hard." He answered, following after Manic before whistling for Krow and waiting for the bird to land on his shoulder. He still didn't feel entirely comfortable around the other. "Too young to." Manic replied. He then looked over and stared at Krow curiously when the bird landed on Crow's shoulder. The krow looked at him, tilting its head to the side and judging him to see if he was safe or not. "This is my kroe. If I tell her to she'll watch over me if I'm in danger." He tilted his head to mimic the krow. "She pretty." He said.

Maleth came back a little after sun set, pulling a dazed looking Arin after him. When Maleth came back, Airoe was waiting in the cave for him and Arin. He was a bit jumpy still from the fight he had had with Crow earlier. When he saw them, he got up to meet them. He wondered why Arin looked dazed. Ivory was napping further back in the cave, getting sleep in before she'd mess around at night. Jyndrase went to go meet Maleth as well, figuring she'd better tell him about the fight Crow and Airoe had. Maleth let go of Arin when he saw Airoe and Jyndrase coming, blinking some at the fact that Crow was not around. "Are you ok?" He asked Arin. "Airoe and Crow had a fight earlier." Jyndrase stated, frowning. "They drew blood. Crow hasn't come back yet since he walked off." She explained. "Just a little off mate. I'll be fine again in a bit." His voice was somewhat hoarse, like he had been shouting for awhile. "I see." Maleth stated, glancing at Airoe. "It will most likely get worse without their parents." He blinked a bit confused before looking at Maleth. "...I would go look for him... but... uh... he reminds me of... someone." She said and left it at that. Maleth seemed mildly annoyed at having to go find him but nodded. "If he's still angry he'll be easier to find." Jyndrase nodded some. Airoe shifted some, still thinking about how Crow had seemed set on killing him. "So.. what happened?" He asked Arin, trying to distract himself. "Too frightening to talk about, yea?" Arin answered,  shaking some. "Heard you got in a fight though. You do okay?" He frowned, wondering what could have happened. His ears bent back when asked about the fight. "....Too frightening to talk about..." He muttered. "Understandable then." He replied.  "You look patched up alright though." "Jyndrase is a good healer." He said. "...Crow almost fought with Ivory too..." He said, looking back at his sleeping sister. "Oh? You got no qualms with her then?" He gestured.  "I'll try to keep that in mind. " Airoe shook his head. "She sticks up for me. It's just Crow I have problems with." He said. "Can't be helped then. " he answered. "Guess that mate that brought me back will scare him out of it for a bit." "...You mean Maleth?" He asked before looking to see if Maleth had left for Crow. He was curious as to how Maleth would deal with Crow and contemplated following. Maleth was already heading out, but was not going particularly fast. Airoe paused, thinking about it before deciding to follow Maleth, gesturing for Arin to follow too.  Arin blinked before slowly following.  Maleth made his way farther into the woods,  following a path of some sort. He continued to follow Maleth. He wasn't sure if Maleth knew they were following or not, but he assumed he did.  Despite how quickly Crow had gone off and how slowly Maleth was going, it did not take him long to catch up. When he did grow looked over and growled some. "Go away, Skullhead." Airoe remained silent as he kept following Maleth, but cringed and frowned some when they caught up with Crow and Crow called Maleth Skullhead. He could imagine Maleth wasn't really someone anyone should disrespect. "I don't plan on going anywhere." Maleth answered. "Not right now." He walked closer, watching as Crow shifted some, unsure if he should attack or not. Arin leaned down and whispered to Airoe. "If he attacks, bad things'll happen, mate." "...Should we... move back a bit?" Airoe whispered back, not wanting to be put in another life threatening situation. Arin judged how close they were. "Y'don't have to. He probably knows we're here and can avoid us anyway." He nodded before looking back at what Maleth and Crow were doing, wondering if Crow would attack or not. If he was stupid, which Airoe believed Crow was very much so, he'd attack Maleth mistaking him as being a weak target. "Why are you so quick to attack those closest to you?" Maleth pressed, watching Crow. "Are you afraid of them?" Crow snarled. "I'm not afraid of anything. You're the one that's afraid walking around with that skull on your head." "Actually that might be enough to push him over." Arin answered, watching to see what would happen. "The guys in red all get angry when y' insult them." Airoe watched as well. He had been curious about the skull too, but hadn't asked about it because it irked him. There was something off about the skull and he didn't like it. "There's more than one in red?" He asked absently. "They say there's a whole town of them." Arin answered, watching as the ground started to rise behind Crow. "I wear it so I don't frighten others." Maleth replied, giving no hint that he was casting a spell other than clenching his fist some. "I don't need to prove my power to gain respect either." Crow growled some and went to take a step forward to confront him, but was surprised when he felt the ground give away under him and found himself falling. Airoe was startled by the ground shifting that he could only assume Maleth was causing it. "...A whole town of what? Shamans?" He asked, though he wasn't sure ground shifting was a shaman spell or not. "No. That would be a bit much, wouldn' it?" Arin answered. "I've mostly heard them called mages." Maleth walked over to the whole he had just created and looked down. Having had no time to prepare, Crow had broken one of his wings falling onto it. He was trying to climb out, though at a quick gesture from Maleth the walls in the hole quickly solidified to stone and Crow fell back down. "When you realize what you need to, then maybe you'll find your way out of there." Maleth stated, walking away. "Mages?" He repeated. He then looked up to see that Maleth was now walking away from the hole he caught Crow in. He stepped back slightly, not sure what the shaman mage was going to do now. "Hey! You can't just leave me down here!" Crow yelled, still trying to scramble up the walls out and failing. "Yes I can, and I am." Maleth answered, continuing to walk back the way he had come. Airoe looked between Maleth and the hole Crow was stuck in before going to cautiously go over to the hole and look over the ledge. When he saw Airoe, Crow immediately grew even angrier and tried jumping up at him, snarling, even though the hole was too deep for him to get any farther than halfway up by jumping. "This is your fault!" He immediately jumped back when Crow jumped at him, wings spreading and tail bristled, but then saw that Crow couldn't reach him. He sighed with relief before looking back over the edge of the hole. "I'm not the one who thought it was a bright idea to insult Maleth." He stated. Crow snarled. "What, because I asked why he had that stupid thing on his head?" He winced as he pressed against his broken wing, trying to fix it.     "And calling him Skullhead didn't help either." Airoe said crossly. "If you had paid attention to the fact that it was a FELINE skull, then you wouldn't of asked such a stupid question." He said as he realized what bothered him about the skull. "So? He likes cats. Whatever." Crow clearly wasn't getting it, blinded by anger and now pain from his wing as he tried to move it again. "Won't heal if you keep tryin' to use it." Arin stated, also now looking down into the hole. "A BIG cat." He stated before running his hand through his hair. "And what are we Crow? Besides dragons." Crow growled at Arin, letting his wing go limp and thinking over what Airoe was trying to get at. "What? You think that's going to scare me out of calling him names?" It bothered him a lot, but he wasn't going to let his brother know. "It's not about being scared or not. It's about knowing not to mess with those who could easily put you in an undesirable position." He stated, glaring down at him. "Or did you forget you are currently stuck in a hole because you wouldn't bite your tongue and insulted someone who has a species's skull similar to our own as head gear?" "If he was really all that big and bad he would have just gone ahead and done something worse than this." Crow answered. "I think he didn't because Jyndrase wouldn't want him to." Airoe said. "Yes? Why don't you go and tell her what you figured out then? See how nice she is to him after that." Crow scowled, trying again to get out of the hole and falling back down. "Why would I do that?" He said before going to push some of the dirt into the hole to try and hit him with it. Crow snarled when the dirt hit him. "Fine. See if I care what you do. Even if I get out of this hole I'm not coming back." "What do you mean not coming back?" He asked. "Are you running away?" "What does it matter to you?" Crow snapped, shaking the dirt off and glaring at him. "I don't see why I shouldn't." "It's dangerous for you to just leave. I'm all for you leaving, but you're young and there's bigger older dragons out there that won't hesitate to have you for lunch," Airoe said, watching him. "They would have already come after us with dad gone." He scoffed. "I don't think they know... and even if they know, he's not really gone and I don't think they'd dare enter his territory." He stated. "We're safe here." "Maybe your safe and toasty with whatever it is you do." Crow answered, sitting down and giving up for the time being. "But I'm not, so why don't you just run home to our freak of a sister." "She's not a freak." Airoe snapped, glaring at him. "And if you want to go out there and get yourself killed or worse, go ahead! Idiot." He snapped before going to walk away. "There's nothing worse than dying." Crow snapped back, growling some. "Oh no mate, there's things worse than that." Arin answered before following after Airoe. As he walked back, he smirked. He was thinking if Crow did die, he could do to him what he did to Arin.... Or probably something worse if he learned more about his powers. "Thinking about doing bad things are we?" Arin commented, noticing Airoe's smirk. Airoe quickly wiped his smirk off when Arin noticed it. "...I don't know what you're talking about." He said, trying to play it off. Though as he thought about it, wasn't that what Arin was doing to him whenever he questioned his motives? Arin grinned some. "You can't kid a kidder. You're hoping he dies ain't you?" "...Maybe..." He said. "He tried to kill me." He said, deciding to say what had bothered him earlier. "That doesn't surprise me that much. He's got a bad temper that one." Arin answered. "But I suppose if he's gone and done that then he may as well dug that hole himself." "His grave" Airoe commented. "When do you think Maleth will let him out of that hole?" He asked. "He isn't." Arin answered. "Mate's going to have to ask for help or grow taller to get out of there. He's a dragon too, though, isn' he? That second one shouldn't be that hard." "He is stupid though." He stated. "It'll take him a while to figure out how to get out." "Probably." Arin nodded. "What were you saying you were other than dragon? Might not have understood that bit." Airoe gestured to his ears and tail. "We're big cats... um.. I think we're called Ligers, but we're also Dragons... Our mom calls us Ligerons I think..." He explained, but then thought it'd be better to show him so he shifted to his liger form. Arin jumped some when he did it so quickly. "Can't say I've seen anything like that." After he recovered he looked at him closer. "It's probably not one of your skulls he's walking around in either." "No I don't think so either. As far as I know, the only Ligerons there are are in my family." He said before shifting back into his humanish form. "But he's still wearing some big cat's skull and that's enough for me to not want to question or mess with him." "His making the earth move without breaking a sweat is enough for me." Arin answered. There were other reasons, too, but he decided to just leave it at that. Airoe nodded in agreement. There were a lot of things about Maleth that put him on edge. "But I s'pose if he's got someone to fancy him he can't be all bad." He answered. "You mean Jyndrase?" Airoe asked.  "Yea, her." He answered, nodding some. "He said she wasn't his girlfriend... but they seem pretty close." Airoe said, tilting his head. "I think he isn't willing to admit it." He stated. "There may be something more significant to it than we know. I mean, I don' know how mages think." He shrugged, not really understanding of relationships yet anyway. He just assumed they were together.

Crow spread his own wings, snarling. "I'd like to see him try." He slashed out with his claws this time at Airoe's arm. Airoe cringed and stepped back, holding his arm, having not expected him to use his claws. He snarled and lunged at Crow with his own claws. Crow dodged out of the way, aiming another attack at Airoe's back. He figured unless Arin had a knife he wouldn't be able to do much. He hissed in pain when his back was hit. He snarled at him again and tried to tackle him. When he was tackled, Crow struggled and tried to bite into Airoe's shoulder as a way to get him off. Airoe snapped at Crow when he bit him. He immediately started trying to tear him apart with his claws. Crow snarled as some of the blows hit him and bit down harder, this time trying to force Airoe off of him at the same time. He bit him back as he flapped his wings to try and pick them both up so that he could slam Crow into a tree to make him stop biting. As soon as they were off the ground, Crow flapped his own wings trying to take control of the flight and trying to dig his claws into Airoe's side as well. He growled, cringing at the claws digging into his side. He flapped his wings harder to fight for control of the flight and tried to stab Crow's wing with his tail blade. Seeing what he was doing, Crow pulled his wings in before trying to do the same to Airoe, snarling again. Airoe snarled and tried to let go and get away from Crow when he tried to stab his wing. Crow finally let go, flying off a short distance to prepare himself to attack again, spitting out Airoe's blood as he did so. He was trying to catch his breath, not being used to fighting so much considering he tried to avoid it. Seeing as Crow looked like he was going to attack again, he tried to fly away. Crow laughed before flying after him. "You're not going to get awy that easily after all that." Airoe frowned and tried to fly faster, faltering slightly as the pain from the wound on his back started to interfere. As soon as he faltered Crow grabbed hold of his shoulders, snarling. "Maybe if you apologize for being so gutsy I'll leave you alone." "No." He snapped and struggled, trying to get free. He tried to attack him with his tail. Crow flew higher to dodge before setting his foot on Airoe's tail. "If you die what happens to your 'pet'?" He asked, mostly out of curiosity. "Why would you ask something like that?!" Airoe snapped as he struggled. Crow dug his claws in more tightly as he tried to fly higher, pulling Airoe with him. "Huh? Is it weird?" He asked. "I mean...I know how to find out." Airoe kept squirming, cringing as Crow dug his claws in more tightly. "W...What?" His eyes widened as what he said sunk in. "Don't joke about that." He snapped. "Who said I was joking?" Crow stated, this time his voice more serious. "I mean...all I have to do is get high enough and make sure you can't fly down, right?" Airoe started to panic as he struggled more strongly. "..Y..You wouldn't kill your brother." He said. "Why shouldn't I?" Crow snapped. "You’re just going to continue mocking me, right?" "That's no reason to kill me!" He snapped. "I'm tired of being under you! You're just a big dumb bully!" He snarled. In response Crow bit Airoe's wing where it met his shoulder. He was clearly just getting angrier and angrier about it. Airoe cried out in pain when he was bit. "Stop!" "What are you doing!?" Ivory shouted, flying at them at full speed with Jyndrase following. Apparently during their flight, they ended up close enough to the cave for Ivory and Jyndrase to hear the commotion. Crow immediately released Airoe, looking back at Ivory and Jyndrase, his eyes closer to red than purple in color. "Nothing important." Airoe tried to fly but faltered from the pain and Ivory quickly grabbed him to help him. "You're both bleeding!" Ivory snarled at Crow before handing Airoe off to Jyndrase as the smell reached her and she had to control herself. "It couldn't have been 'nothing important'" Jyndrase was partially frozen in fear as Crow's look reminded her of Kane. She shook her head and went to help Airoe land safely on the ground. "Was to me." Crow snapped before also going to land. Jyndrase looked over Airoe's wounds and started to heal them. Airoe was shaking as he was tended to. He glanced at Crow, wondering if he should tell the other's that Crow had been about to kill him. Ivory snarled at Crow as she landed as well. "What? Did you get all ticked off because Airoe was finally standing up to you? Can't have that can you? Just have to push around our brother to feel important don't you?" Crow snarled some, shifting some into an attack position again. He didn't care how much he hurt then, he just wanted to fight. Jyndrase frowned when she noticed Crow getting back into attack position. She shook her staff at him to make the bells jingle. Ivory was about to snap at him again, but was thrown off by the bells and shook her head some in confusion. Crow blinked some when he heard the bells, his eyes turning back to purple as he looked over at Jyndrase, somewhat annoyed by how sleepy they were making him. He had a feeling that if she kept it up he would fall asleep right then and there. Ivory was more confused by the fact that the bells seemed to effect Crow as well. Jyndrase sighed and stopped shaking her staff. "Good to know that works." She mumbled. "Now, are you going to stand there bleeding, or are you going to come over here so that I can heal you?" Airoe blinked and looked between Jyndrase and his siblings before moving away in case Crow did come over to get healed. Crow scowled some, but since the pain was starting to kick in, he reluctantly walked over to be healed. Jyndrase went to work on healing Crow's wounds when he came over. "Siblings should not draw blood." She stated. "You should just let him keep those wounds for a bit." Ivory grumbled, crossing her arms. Airoe went to go stand with Ivory, not wanting to be near Crow now that he knew how dangerous he actually was. Crow glared at Ivory. "Why don't you just shut up?" He frowned as he sat there being healed. "And he started it." "Jerk." Ivory snapped. "It doesn't matter who started it." Jyndrase stated as she finished healing him. Airoe just remained silent, watching Crow warily. Crow stood up, going to walk back into the forest. "Whatever." Jyndrase sighed and shook her head before going to go back to the cave, Ivory and Airoe following close behind.